
Book .07 

Copyright)]? 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



FOOD FOR THE LAMBS: 

OR, 
HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 



By CHAS. E. ORR, 

Author of "Christian Conduct," "The Gospel Day,*' etc. 



"Feed my Mmbs.*'— Bible. 



1904. 

GOSPEL TRUMPET COMPANY, 

MOUNDSVILLE, W. VA. 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies fieceived 

DEC 16 I9U4 

/> Oop^riaii't tniry 
CUSS . ^ XXc. Itoj 
COPY B. ^ 



•,(57 



Copyright, 1904, 

BY 

aOSPEL TRUMPET COMPANY. 



PREFACE. 

There is much more I should like to write, 
but I do not think a large book is accepted by 
the general reader as readily as a smaller one. 
So lest this grows to too great a size, I have 
concluded to close it with what I now have 
written. The selections I have made from 
other writers are ^'Spiritual Declension,'' 
''Seek First the Kingdom of God," "Stirring 
the Eagle's Nest," ''The Little Foxes," "On 
Dress," "Victory," and the poems "The Soli- 
tary Way, " " Sometime, ' ' and the closing. 

I pray that the sayings of this little volume 
will animate many a soul to a higher, nobler, 
holier life. Although it is written to young 
Christians, it may do some good to older saints. 
I hope it will. I commit it to the public with 
no other motive than to do good. 

Chas. E. Orr. 

Federalsburg, Md., Sept. 15, 1904. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Introduction ' 9 

Mortality 14 

Feeding the Lambs 15 

Who Are Christ 's Lambs 17 

Food for the Lambs 19 

On Fruit Bearing 24 

A Gazing-Stoek 31 

The Will 32 

God Our Guide 40 

The Word Our Guide 42 

The Spirit 's Impressions 43 

God's Providences 45 

Fragrance 47 

Seek First the Kingdom 48 

Prayer 52 

Meditation , 59 

Reverie (Poem) 64 

A Theater 67 

Rest of the S'oul 68 

Happiness of Life (Poem) 75 

The Hidden Life 76 

Consciousness of God's Presence 78 

Reflection 82 

Becoming 85 

Love of Home 8Q 

Victory 92 

The First Love 94 

The Little Foxes 97 

Spiritual Declension 99 

Diligence 106 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Lowliness 110 

On Dress 112 

The Elixir of Life 118 

Rules for Every-Day Life 119 

A Holy Life 121 

A Solitary Way (Poem) 123 

Stirring the Eagle 's Nest 125 

Some Things You Should Not Do 127 

Purity 129 

Means for Growth 134 

Lay Hold of Eternal Life 135 

Crucifixion of Self 137 

Love Not the World 141 

Have a Care (Poem) 142 

Affinities 143 

The Guardian Angel 145 

Pledgino^ the Wings 150 

Some Time (Poem) 152 

The Precious Ointment 153 

The Tree of Life 159 

Eternity 160 

Nearer to Thee (Poem) 161 

Conclusion 163 

Closinsr Exhortation 166 



INTRODUCTION. 



Out upon the sea of human life sails many a 
bark. But, alas! how few are sailing tranquil 
waters. Ascend with me to some solitary 
height and let us take a view of the innumer- 
able human crafts as they sail out upon life's 
broad ocean. Many are being tossed to and fro 
upon the angry billows. Hope is almost gone. 
As they look forward into the distance all is 
dark and uncertain. In the early days of their 
voyage all was peaceful. They looked out over 
the broad expanse and saw only calm, con- 
tented waters, and hope beamed bright. They 
fancied themselves anchoring, in a ripe old age, 
in a beautiful haven of rest somewhere behind 
the setting sun. But they sailed only in the 
strength of human art. Storms unexpected 
arose, and winds adverse beat upon them. 

The high, wild, angry billows threaten their 
destruction, and they despair of ever entering 
their fancied golden port. Above the blackness 
of the raging storm there is extended a deliver- 
ing hand, but they see it not. Their eyes are 



10 i^ooD i^oK THE Lambs; or, 

not upward ; they are upon the turbulent waves. 
Oh, how sad ! How pellucid would have been the 
waters and how serene in glory their voyage, 
if they had embarked in the strength of Him 
who at their request would have said to the 
angry waves, ''Peace, be still,'' and all would 
have been at rest. 

Yonder in the distance we see gay, glittering 
crafts sailing about in a state of unrest. Some 
are sailing out upon the sea of worldly pleasure 
in search of happiness. See them rush wildly 
about. Yonder they seem to see bright, golden 
waters and hope that true pleasures are to be 
found there. But, alas! just beneath the sur- 
face all is dark and murky and bitter. Some 
are sailing out upon the highways of worldly 
fame and honor, others upon the wild stream of 
worldly riches, all searching for rest and find- 
ing, none. See the surging, tossing mass of 
human barks and hear their wail of disappoint- 
ment as the sweet, golden waters turn to bitter 
wormwood and gall. The rainbow-colored 
bubbles, from their hoped-for fountain of joy, 
burst upon the air, leaving them empty-handed 
and restless -hearted. Above the wild din of 
their clamor speaks a soft, tender voice, saying, 



HELPS EOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 11 

' ' Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy- 
laden, and I will give you rest. ' ' But their ears 
are not turned to catch sounds from above; 
they hear only the siren song of an enchanting 
goddess— the world. 

Down toward the setting sun we see many 
shattered vessels going down in a wild vortex. 
The waters are closing over them. They found 
that human strength was inadequate to life's 
voyage. They, having weathered many a storm, 
hoped to gain the peaceful harbor. But, alas! 
they are overcome at last, and, lamenting the 
day they ever set sail, they go down without 
hope. From the ethereal heights of inspiration 
I hear a chiding voice saying, ' ' had ye heark- 
ened unto me, then had your peace been as a 
river, ana your righteousness as the waves of 
the sea." 

You, my dear young Christian reader, have 
just embarked upon life's nntried ocean. You 
have laid hold upon One who is mighty to save 
hnd strong to deliver. Underneath you are the 
everlasting arms. Push out, then, boldly into 
the broad expanse, fearing nothing. You can 
escape the perils of the deep, only by making 
God your refuge. Anchor your faith in him 



12 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS ; OR, 

and see to it that your faith never breaks 
anchor. The billows may threaten, the storms 
may rage ; but by faith you can beat them back, 
and sail out on unruffled seas. God pity the 
one who attempts life 's voyage without the aid, 
cheer, and comfort that Heaven gives. 

Make the Word of God your compass, and 
obedience the rudder that steers your little bark 
in all the ways God's commandments point you; 
and make faith the mighty cable, and you will 
be towed safely past the dangerous rocks and 
reefs and threatening billows into the peaceful 
haven of eternal rest. 

Across the deep and wide unknown 

The bark of life sails on: 
Who thinks to trust to human art 

Shall perish mid the storm. 

The other shore far distant lies, 

Wild billows intervene, 
And dangers little known arise 

To try the strength of men. 

Man lays his purpose and his plan, 

He fixes sail to-day; 
But winds adverse sweep o'er the main 

And turn him from his way. 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 13 

Man's wisdom can not know the end, 

Nor future courses see : 
Whoever sails in human strength 

Sails mid uncertainty. 

Man has a strong inveterate foe, 

So subtle in his art; 
He tries the strength of human craft 

And finds the weakest part. 

By human strength man can not sail 

O'er ocean's troubled breast: 
God's hand alone can e'er prevail 

And brine: him into rest. 




MORTALITY. 



In plant, animal, and spiritual life mortality 
is greatest in infancy. The plant in the first 
few days of its existence is very tender and 
delicate. It will succumb to the winds if they 
be slightly too cool, or to the sun's rays if they 
be too warm. The smallest insect feeding upon 
one of its tiny roots will cause it to die. After 
it has formed more roots and they have gone 
deeper into the earth and the plant becomes 
stronger and coarser it is far less liable to de- 
struction. The chilly winds may blow or the 
sun's rays may pour upon it; it now has the 
power of resistance, and so lives on. 

The same is true of animal life. Mortality 
is far greatest among children in the first few 
hours of life, and lessens as they grow older. 
Only a slight current of cold air upon the ne^ly 
born infant is likely to cause its death. The 
new life is not yet able to resist opposing ele- 
ments, so it must be carefully guarded. As it 
grows stronger and becomes capable of adapt- 
ing itself to the elements of the outside world 



14 



HELPS FOK YOUNG CHBISTIANS. l5 

it can with comparative safety be brought into 
contact with them. 

What is true in the plant and the animal 
world is also true in the spiritual world. You 
who have but recently been born of the Spirit 
are not as able to resist the cold winds of perse- 
cution or the heat of fiery trials as those who 
have been deepening and widening in the grace 
of God. Guard carefully the new-bom life of 
Christ in your soul. Seek an establishing grace 
in sanctification, and you will be strong in the 
Lord and fully able to cope with the dark 
powers of sin, Satan, and the world, and tri- 
umph over all in Jesus' name. In the days of 
your infancy we offer you our help in this little 
volume, and assure you a frequent remem- 
brance in fervent prayer. 



FEEDING THE LAMBS. 



Some years ago when attending to the work 
to which the Lord had called me in one of the 
sunny Southern States it was my happy privi- 
lege to enjoy for a few days the kind hospital- 
ity of a g^n-erous Christian farmer. -One balmy 



16 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 

afternoon while walking over the pleasant fields 
of his large farm, with my heart in sweet com- 
munion with God, I came upon the most beau- 
tiful flock of sheep it had ever been my privi- 
lege to behold. They were quietly grazing in 
a rich green pasture, near by which silently 
flowed a deep, broad river. To me it was a fair 
reminder of the ^' still waters" the Good Shep- 
herd gave promise to lead his sheep beside, and 
the ^^ green pastures" he promised to make 
them to ''lie down in." 

From beholding this beautiful fleecy flock I 
learned a lesson which I hope never to for- 
get The principal cause of their well-devel- 
oped frame and handsome appearance was, 
they were luell cared for luhen they were lambs. 
Since then I have often remembered, and felt 
the import of, the command the Savior so ten- 
derly gave his shepherds— ''Feed my lambs." 
Over and over has it in all its strength and 
beauty been breathed anew by the Spirit in my 
soul, animating me to greater assiduity in car- 
ing for the precious lambs of his fold. And, 
thus, I shall prove my love to him by doing all 
I can in caring for his lambs. 

Lambs need something more than feed; they 



HELPS FUR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 17 

must be sheltered from the cold wind and cruel 
storm. Feed them ever so well, but if you ex- 
pose them to the wintry storm, they will die. 
In John 21 : 15 the word feed is translated from 
the same Greek term as is the word feed in the 
J 7th verse ; but in the 16th verse the word feed 
IS translated from an entirely different Greek 
term. In this verse the Greek does not mean 
simply to feed, but to protect, to shelter, to 
tend. The shepherd's duty is not only to feed 
the lambs, but also to guard them from the 
wolves that are seeking to devour them. 



WHO ARE CHRIST'S LAMBS. 



It is those who are young in Christian expe- 
rience whom the Savior calls lambs. The shep- 
herds that are to feed them are his ministers. 
A lamb is one of the most meek, tender, and 
tractable of all the young animals, and veiy 
fittingly represents one who has received the 
meek and tender spirit of Christ. Christianity 
in its nature is meek and mild. It converts the 
wolf into a lamb and the leopard into a kid. 
A'oung Christians are, therefore, beautifully 



18 



spoken of as lambs, whose nature is mild and 
gentle. Christ's lambs are those who have re- 
ceived into their hearts his lamb-like spirit. 
They are those whose hearts and souls have 
been touched and thrilled with the mildness and 
tenderness of divine life; those in whom the 
''hidden man of the heart" is robed in right- 
eousness and adorned with ''a meek and quiet 
spirit," which is precious before God. 

You might robe a wolf with a lamb's skin, 
but it would still be a wolf. A person may 
profess to be a Christian ; but unless he has a 
change of heart and affection; unless he has 
been made meek and gentle by the Spirit of the 
Lord coming into his heart, he is only a wolf, 
after all, and not of the Savior's fold. Jesus 
speaks of some who put on *^ sheep's clothing, 
but inwardly they are ravening wolves." By 
' * wolves ' ' he means men and women with wicked 
hearts. They profess to be Christians; but in 
their hearts are envy, pride, hatred, jealousy, 
love of self, and love of the world. They may 
appear quite lamb-like in public life, but in 
their hearts no change has been wrought by the 
transforming power of God's grace. To be 
** Jesus' little lamb" is not only to have a pro- 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 19 

t'ession of Chhstianity, but to have the heart 
cleansed by the blood of Jesus from envy, pride, 
malice, love of the world, etc., and filled with 
meekness, gentleness, and love. 

A good old prophet in olden time, looking 
forward to when Jesus should come to save 
people from their sins and speak peace to 
troubled hearts, said, "He shall feed his flock 
Uke a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with 
his arm, and carry them in his bosom." When 
you were wandering in the deserts and moun- 
tains of sin, Jesus, the true shepherd, came 
seeking for you, and now that you have given 
yourself to his loving care, always confide in 
him and yield to his guidance. Ever keep your 
hand in his and follow where he leads, and 
your life will be full of joy and terminate at 
last where there will be pleasures forevermore. 



FOOD FOR THE LAMBS. 



Of course, it is very important to know what 
foods are most conducive to the growth of 
lambs. The apostle to whom Jesus gave the 
command ''Feed ray lambs" has said to those 



20 



FOOD FOK THE LAMBS; OK, 



lambs, "As new-born babes desire the sincere 
milk of the Word that they may grow there- 
by. ' ' 1 Pet. 2 : 2. Milk is the aliment which the 
nature of the newly born infant demands. The 
infant instinctively receives it with a readiness. 
It is the natural and most proper food. It is 
the food above all others for the sustaining of 
life and the promotion of growth. So the glo- 
.rious doctrines of the gospel are the natural 
and most proper food for the Christian. The 
newly created life in the regenerated soul in- 
stinctively turns to the word of Grod for nour- 
ishment. It is the natural food for the new life. 
Nothing else can be substituted for it and 
growth go on unhindered. Without this food 
the Christian will die. "Man shall not live 
by bread alone, ' ' says the Great Shepherd, 
"but by every word that proceedeth out of the 
mouth of God." 

The Christian has a twofold life : he has both 
physical life and spiritual life. As bread sus- 
tains physical life, so the word of God sustains 
spiritual life. I beseech you most earnestly, 
my dear young Christian reader, to ever remem- 
ber that you can no more live a spiritual life 
independently of the word of God than 3^ou cSin 




"He shall gather the lambs with his arms and 
earrv them in his bosom." 



HELPS FOE YOUNG CHEISTIANS. 23 

live a physical life independently of bread. If 
growth in grace is worth anything to you, and 
eternal blessedness in the sweet fields of heaven 
of any value, keep this ever in mind and act 
accordingly. As with the physical being, so it 
is with the spiritual. There must be appetite, 
eating, digestion, and assimilation, that the 
word of God may impart life. 

Remember, it is the sincere milk of the Word 
that you need that you may grow thereby. Sin- 
cere is from the Latin sinceriis, which is derived 
from sine, meaning without, and cera, meaning 
wax; honey separated from the wax. Milk to 
which has been added chalked water may yet 
have much the appearance of milk, but it has 
lost its nourishment. So the word of God with 
the slightest adulteration will not meet the 
demands for spiritual growth. The word of 
God, without modification or exaggeration, 
without taking from or adding to, is the only 
wholesome food for your soul, and may you 
'^eat in plenty" and '^grow up as calves of the 
stall.'' 



24 

ON rmilT BEARING. 



The following beautiful language is found 
in Isa. 51 ; 3 : " For the Lord shall comfort Zion : 
he will comiort all her waste places; and he 
will make her wilderness like Eden, and her 
desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and 
gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, 
find the voice of melody." Zion is a metaphor 
signifying the church of God. It is, therefore, 
the church which the Lord will comfort and 
whose wilderness will be made an Eden. But 
what is the church of God? This is a verj^ im- 
portant question; one which all people should 
fully understand, and one which is very easily 
answered. You will learn at once by reading 
Eph. 1 : 22, 23 and Col. 1 : 18, 24 that the church 
is the body of Christ,*and in 1 Cor. 12 : 27 we 
are plainly told that Christians are the body of 
Christ; they are, therefore, the church of God. 
Dear reader, if you are a Christian, you have 
been born of the Spirit; you have passed from 
death unto life; you have been translated from 
the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of 
light; you have been created anew; you are. 



HELPS FUR YOU^'G CHRISTIAKS. 25 

therefore, a member of the body of Christ, and 
all such members make up the church of God. 

The children of Israel were the church of 
God in the old dispensation, and he dwelt in a 
tabernacle or temple they built for him. In 
this more glorious gospel dispensation those 
who have been born of the Spirit and made 
pure in heart are the church of God. In this 
Holy-Spirit dispensation we do not build tem- 
ples for the Lord to dwell in; for "know ye not 
that ye are the temple of God, and that the 
Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" 1 Cor. 3:16. 
•What? know ye not that your body is the tem- 
ple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which 
ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" 
1 Cor. 6 : 19. In this blessed gospel day Chris- 
tians are the ''habitation of God through the 
Spirit." If you are a Christian, God dwells in 
your heart; your body is his glorious temple. 
This is a most stupendous thought, but it is 
true. In your soul is the sweet heavenly manna, 
the budding rod, . and the ark of the covenant 
overshadowed by the cherubim of glory. 

When God created man He placed him in a 
garden which He had planted eastward in Eden. 
In this garden God made to grow every tree 



26 FOOD FOB THE LAMBS; OR, 

that was pleasant to the sight and good for 
food ; also, the tree of life and the tree of knowl- 
edge of good and evil were in this garden, and 
a river to water it. It is said that God ^'walked 
in the garden in the cool of the day." That 
was in the day of literal things. We are now 
rn the day of spiritual things, when our bodies 
have become the temple of God through the 
Spirit, and our hearts his lovely garden. It is 
in this garden he dwells; it is there he walks. 
See 2 Cor. 6 : 16. When the south winds blow 
and the spices flow out he comes into his gar- 
den to eat his pleasant fruits; he gathers the 
myrrh and the spices, he eats honey and drinks 
wine and milk. See Cant. 4 : 16 and 5 : 1. This 
is sweet language, and is expressive of the 
purity of the Christian heart, where God dwells, 
and where he walks in the gentleness of his 
Spirit, delighting himself in the tender Chris- 
tian graces that are budding and blooming all 
along the peaceful avenues of the soul. Like 
as the gentle south wind blows upon the flowers 
of the garden and scatters the fragrance ; so the 
Spirit of God fans the heavenly graces im- 
planted in the heart, and a fragrance flows out 
of the Christian life, awaking admiration in 



HELjPS FOE YOUKG CHRISTIANS. 27 

the minds of all who come into its presence. 

The trees that were pleasant to the sight and 
good for food in the literal garden: of Eden 
symbolize the graces of the regenerated heart, 
which are lovely to behold, which feed the souls 
of those who look upon your noble Christian 
walk, and which become a "tree of life" to 
the desert hearts of men. In the garden of the 
Lord blooms the rose of Sharon and the lily-of- 
the-valley. These are beautiful emblems of the 
Christ-life in the Christian soul. The river 
which flowed through Eden's literal garden rep- 
resents the deep, broad river of peace which 
flows in the heart which has tasted of redeem- 
ing love. 

A young heart filled with the mild, meek 
spirit of Christ, and a young life laden in rich 
profusion with kind words, generous deeds, 
and gentle, modest ways, is the most beautiful 
object that ever graced this mundane sphere, 
xlngels look down and marvel, and throughout 
all heaven is awakened songs of joy and praise. 
It is your privilege to be filled with Jesus now ; 
to be clothed in white and walk in purity. It is 
alsa your privilege as you journey down life^^s 
way to grow more kindly; to be more and more 



28 POOD FOK THE LAMBS; QU, 

like Jesus; for the sweet graces of heaven to 
bloom more beautifully in your heart and life; 
and the beauty of your young Christian life to 
give way to more beauteous ripened age. If 
you attend to all Christian duties and live in 
prayer and devotion to God, your soul will 
become more and more weighted down with the 
riches of heaven, and, looking out through the 
casement, your soul will hail with joy the con- 
voy that has come to bear it to its home of eter- 
nal rest. 

The Savior in speaking of himself said, ''I 
am the vine," and in speaking of Christians he 
said, "Ye are the branches," and speaking of 
God he said, ' ' My Father is the husbandman. ' ' 
This very clearly and strikingly illustrates the 
duty of a Christian, and the position he occu- 
pies. Christians sustain the same relation to 
Christ that the branches do to the vine. As the 
branch receives life through the vine and bears 
fruit, so the Christian receives life through 
C'hrist and bears fruit. The object of fruit 
bearing is the glory of God. You should be 
desirous of bearing as great an abundance of. 
fruit as possible, and do all you can to increase 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHBISTIANS. 29 

your fruitfulness, since "hei'ein is God glori- 
fied, that you bear much fruit. " 

The apostle Paul in speaking of Christians 
said, ' ' Ye are God 's husbandry, ' ^ 1 Cor. 3 : 9. 
If you will examine the Greek text you will find 
that a more proper rendering would be, ^'Ye 
are God's field." Greek scholars tell us that 
the Greek term from which husbandry is trans- 
lated in our comnion version signifies a culti- 
vated field. It answers to the Hebrew word 
sadeh, wliidi means a field sown and under cul- 
tivation. From this you will be enabled to yet 
more fully understand the true position you 
occupy under God. You are his fertile field, 
where he has under cultivation the precious 
fmits of the kingdom of heaven. The Husband- 
man has rooted up every plant that he has not 
planted, and sown there the seeds of righteous- 
ness. 

Not only are your hearts the '* garden 
of the Lord, ' ' where blooms the ' ' rose of 
Sharon" and the ''lily-of-the-valley" in all the 
sweetness of their fragrance and beauty, but 
they are also the Lord's fertile field, wher^ the 
amiable Christian graces are to bud, bloom, and 
bear fruit. Your dutv as a Christian is to bear 



30 FOOD FOE THE LAMBS; OR, 

fruit for God, that he may be glorified. Every 
fruit-bearing branch, therefore, he purges, that 
it may bring forth more fruit. The successful 
farmer carefully removes all the foreign growth 
out of his field, and then cultivates his plants, 
that he may reap the greatest possible harvest. 
Delicious fruits are brought from the trop- 
ical clime to this land of ours, and they awaken 
in our hearts an admiration for that delight- 
some country. We long to travel through those 
sunny lands. You are God's fertile field. In 
your life has been placed the beautiful fruits of 
the heavenly land. As this world looks upon 
your life and beholds these fruits admiration 
will be awakened in their hearts for the fruitful 
fields of heaven. They will be influenced by 
your life to seek the kingdom of God and its 
riches, that they may taste of its fruits now and 
forever. If you will walk with God and live 
devoted to him, those precious fruits of the 
Spirit will become more plentiful and beautiful 
in your life as you journey down the way, mak- 
ing you a greater blessing to the hearts of 
others. To this end you must live. 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 31 

A GAZme-STOCK. 



In Heb. 10 ; 33 it is said that Christians are 
a gazing-stock. The world is looking upon your 
life. You have taken upon you the profession 
of Christianity. If you live a pure and holy 
life, God will be honored ; others gazing at you 
will see that Christ lives in you, and many will 
give to God the glory. You must be willing to 
be gazed at by the world. You must let your 
light shine. 

Your holy life will be a savor of life or a 
savor of death unto those before whom you live. 
So do not think you are living to no purpose. 
Some one is looking on every day, and if you 
will walk uprightly, it will tell for God. What 
a privilege you have of living a life that God 
will use to the salvation of some and to the con- 
demnation of others! You must be interested 
in living a pure, clean life, and live your very 
best each day, so that you will not be ashamed 
before God to be a gazing-stock for the world. 



32 FOOD FOE THE LAMBS; OR, 

THE WILL. 



Ainoug the different faculties which God 
gave to man in his creation is one called the 
ivill. It is because you have this faculty that 
you become a responsible being. Before the 
first man and woman in the garden of Eden God 
placed two laws— one was the law of obedience, 
and the other, the law of disobedience.- These 
were subject to their choice. They could will 
to obey God and live forever, or will to disobey 
and die. Before all men are placed two 
ways— one is called the way of life, and the 
other, the way of death. These are subject to 
their choice. Therefore, the will is called that 
faculty of the soul by which we choose or refuse 
things. 

The will is capable of cultivation. By the 
exercise of your will you can refuse to do wrong 
things, and thus strengthen your will-power. 
Men have attained extraordinary heights of 
morality by the exercise of the will in right- 
doing and refusing to do wrong. This is noble 
and beautiful, but there is something more noble 
still and more beautiful. The moral man wills 
to do right because it is right, while the Chris- 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 33 

tian wills to do right because it is the will of 
God and pleases him. 

Although man can not by the exercise of Ms 
will-power in right-doing evolve into a Chris- 
tian, the will pla3^s an important part in the 
formation of Christian character. It is true, 
the will is most usually led by the affections of 
the heart ; therefore the writer of Proverbs said, 
'^Out of the heart are the issues of life." The 
heart must, however, get consent of the will 
before its desires are fulfilled. Here is a truth 
of vast importance to the Christian. 

Many people 's wills have become so in bond- 
age to the impure affections and desires of 
their depraved hearts that they have no will to 
do right and shun the wrong. The desires of 
the heart sway their scepter of power over the 
will, and it acts to the granting the heart its 
wishes. This is a sad picture. A hmnan being- 
created to be free, but now a wretched slave. 
When he wills to do good evil is present with 
him ; the good he would do, he does not do ; and 
the evil he would not do, that is what he does. 
miserable man! A person who has re- 
jected the mercy of God and has yielded to the 
inclinations of an unholy heart until he has no 

3 



34 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS ; OR, 

power to accept the offers of mercy and shun 
the ways of sin, is an object of the greatest 
pity. To him there is no hope of escaping the 
damnation of hell. 

There is a time in the life of every rational 
young man and wonian when they can accept 
the blessed offers of salvation which God ex- 
tends through his Son, if they will. God gives 
the Holy Spirit to operate upon the depraved 
heart, making it to feel something of the real- 
ities of a Savior's love and goodness, and some- 
thing of the awfulness of sin. The Holy Spirit 
does not take hold upon the will and compel it 
to serve God, or force it into right action. He 
just takes hold upon the heart, suppressing its 
love for sin, and awakening desires for a bet- 
ter life, thus removing the unrighteous scepter 
the heart swayed over the will, giving the will 
freedom and power to accept or reject the mer- 
cies of God. While the impure affections and 
unholy desires of a depraved heart are being 
restrained by the power of the Holy Spirit, 
before the will is set the way of life and the 
way of death, each subject to choice. Now is 
the time for whosoever will to come and drink 
of the water of life freely, and whosoever will 



HELPS FOB YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 35 

now call upon the name of the Lord shall be 
saved. 

Not only does the will act an important pail 
in securing the salvation of the soul through 
the offered mercies of God, but it is the pur- 
pose of God that the will act an important part 
all along the Christian way. After the Chris- 
tian enters througli the '^strait gate" and steps 
out upon the '' narrow way" that leads to eter- 
nal golden glories, he is not carried forward in 
a ^'chariot of fire" through the journey of life 
and crowned at the end with eternal blessedness 
irrespective of his will. Often it is true that 
the soul is carried blessedly onward in the way 
of life on the wings of joy, without any appar- 
ent exercise of the will; but how often Good 
seems to have deserted or forsaken us, Joy has 
hid her smiling face, and Good Feelings have 
departed, and we are left to serve God and 
attend to our Christian duties from choice of 
will. God wants our life service to be a willing 
service. It is necessary, therefore, that he ap- 
parently forsake us and permit dark powers 
to engage us. It is that our wills may be exer- 
cised. The Psalmist says, *'T will go the way 



36 FOOD FOK THE LAMBS; OR, 

of thy commandment; I will keep thy testimo- 
nies, '^ and let us ail say amen. 

The blessings and joys the Lord bestows upon 
us are the rewards of willing service, for which 
things you should be very thankful; but never 
let them influence you in your conduct toward 
God. There have been those, who, in the hour 
of seeming desertion, refusing to use their will- 
power, have turned back to the world. This is 
faint-he artedness and cowardice, ignobleness 
and unmanliness. 

Every faculty of the body or soul that is un- 
used or unexercised will weaken and die. The 
muscles if unused wil"^ grow weak, the mind if 
unused will weaken, and the will if unexercised 
will lose its power. Should God always keep 
us soaring aloft on the wings of peace and joy 
and blessings, without the exercise of the will, 
this important facuitA would degenerate into 
weakness and slaver\'. () niay uiy young read- 
ers arise in the strength of their manhood and 
womanhood and use, in choosing and doing the 
right, the will God has given them. The 
tempter may come, yea, will come, and endeavor 
to get some of the affections of the heart set 
upon the world; but you must reject all such 



HELPS FOK VOUKG CHRISTIAN'S. 37 

temptations, and by the force of your will set 
your affections on things above. God does never 
will for us, but he gives us power to will if we 
will but use the power he gives us. 

You are exhorted by the Scriptures to '^work 
out your own salvation with fear and trem- 
bling. ' ' The ' ' crown of life ' ' lies at the end of 
the Christian race. Wlien we step over the 
boundary between time and eternity our salva- 
tion is then eternally secured. Praises be to God 1 
It is for this crown of amaranthine glory, or 
blessed eternal salvation, that we are to watch 
and labor with fear and trembling. may you 
be Yery careful ! Be watchful, lest something 
should hinder you in your Christian race, and 
you miss at last the blessedness of heaven. 
Guard the affections of your heart with the 
strictest vigilance. 

I said above that God would always give us 
power to will, if we would but make use of 
that power. For proof of this I shall refer you 
to Phil. 2 : 13, which in our common version 
is rendered thus : ' ' For it is God which worketh 
in you both to will and to do of his good pleas- 
ure." The meaning of this text is not so readily 
comprehended by this version as it is by some 



38 FOOD POE THE LAMBS; Ofi, 

others. By Conybeare and Howson it is trans- 
lated in these words: '^It is God who works in 
yon both will and deed." Upon examination of 
the different translations we find the meaning 
of this text to be this : * ^ It is God that gives us 
power to will and to do his good pleasure." In 
the verse preceding this one the apostle tells 
us to ''work out our salvation with fear and 
trembling," and then he adds for our encour- 
agement, ''God will work in you the power to 
will and to do that which will secure your eter- 
nal salvation." Never say, "I can't." 

Here is something which will prove very val- 
uable to you in your Christian life if you can 
only get to fully comprehend it: You can do 
nothing; your will is powerless without God 
and his grace, and God ean do nothing in you 
without the consent of your will. God does 
everything, and we do everything: we are to 
purify our hearts, and yet it is God who puri- 
fies our hearts ; we are to make us a new heart, 
and yet it is God who gives us a new heart; we 
are commanded to work out our salvation, and 
God gives us power to do it. God furnishes 
the power; we are to do. Do not think that 
God will act for you. He will give you power 



HELPS FOR YOUNG OHRISTIAJSTS. 39 

to act, but he will not do the act for you. Do 
not, therefore, say, ^^I- ean^'t." You can do **all 
things " through Christ, who' strengthens you. 
You can serve God in a way acceptable to him; 
you can keep your mind stayed on him 5 you can 
pray; you can resist the devil and temptation 
and be an overcomer; you can endure unto the 
end— you can do '^all things" by the grace and 
power of God, and he will always give you 
power to do his pleasure. Do not serve and 
praise God only when he gives you blessings 
and joy, but serve him and praise him when 
the way is dark. Have a fixed decision of the 
will to serve God no matter what the feelings 
may be. Be thankful to God for the will-power 
he has given you, and use it manfully, nobly 
in his service. Do not cower and tremble before 
temptation. You are to ''fear and tremble" 
before God, but never before trials, tempta- 
tions, sin, nor the devil. God will cause you to 
triumph by giving 'you power to will. Be stead- 
fast, be faithful, fix your will unswervingly to 
serve God, and in due season you shall reap if 
vou faint not. 



40 FOOD FOK THE LAMBS ; OK, 

GOD OUR GUIDE. 



This is a dark world of sin, error, and uncer- 
tainties. It is weak and transitory. Man, God's 
chief and highest work in the things of creation, 
is weak, ignorant, and can of himself do abso- 
lutely nothing. Though he may have a most 
scholarly mind, he can not peer with any degree 
of certainty one hour into the future. Who 
knows what the morrow may have in store? 
Life may run about the same as to-day, or for- 
tune may come, or misfortune. Man may plan 
for the future, but the plan may never be car- 
ried into effect. It is not in man to direct his 
way. 

There is one, however, that knows all future 
things and shapes the destiny of man. We are 
invited to commit our way unto him. He has 
promised to guide us with his eye. Life lies be- 
fore us like an unknown sea, none know how 
many days' journey it is aci;oss, nor how much 
sunshine and shadow there may be on the way. 
With the unknown expanse before me, and I, 
in my ignorant finiteness, not knowing which 
way to take, rejoice exceedingly in my heart 
to be permitted to commit my way unto Him 



HELPS FOE lOUKG CHRISTIANS. 41 

who makes the clouds his chariots, and rides 
upon the wings of the wind, and stills the wave. 
He Imows the best way and will direct in tender 
care my every step. He guides me with his 
eye, and leads me by his own right hand beside 
the still waters and into green pastures. 

VHiy are there so many anxious hearts, so 
much unrest, so many discontentments and 
fears ? It is because man is attempting to direct 
his own way. He feels his weakness, and fears ; 
he knows his ignorance, and becomes anxious. 
How blessed to walk out upon life's way trust- 
ing in God and casting every care upon him! 
The waves may sometimes dash around our feet, 
but we are looking up unto Him who shall guide 
us continually. The secret of a happy and suc- 
cessful life is to let God lead us. When we get 
in a hurr^^ and pass on ahead of the Lord, devis- 
ing, contriving, planning over our work and 
way, then come fears and failures. 

Many Christians find it difficult to know the 
will of God and understand his leadings. Many 
hearts are longing to know God's will and way. 
You may always know. Do not hurry, only 
wait, pray and trust, and God will plainly and 
unmistakably teach you his way and give you 



42 FOOD FOE THE lambs; OR, 

a sweet consciousness in your soul of Ms guid- 
ance. Sometimes it may require long waiting. 
I Have for months been almost daily praying 
and sometimes rising a great while before day 
to seek God beneath the stars to know his will 
in a certain matter. Sometimes it seems I must 
act, but God whispers in sweet stillness, ^'Only 
wait. " 

THE WORD OUR GUIDE. 

In many affairs of life we need no guidance 
other than the Word of God. ' ^ Thy Word is a 
lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." 
Psa. 119 : 105. Much reading of the Scripture 
will impart wisdom and knowledge, and be a 
help to us in directing the affairs of life. You 
may have a difficult matter to settle with your 
neighbor. Open your Bible and read : ' ' Whatso- 
ever ye would that men should do to you, 
do ye even so to them." Quite likely this will 
enable you to settle the matter in perfect satis- 
faction to all. Some one may have done you 
much harm, now what must you dof Open 
your book of guidance and read: '* Dearly be- 
loved, avenge not yourselves . . . vengeance 
is mine; I will rep«')y, saith the Lord." Thus, 



HELPS FOB YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 43 

much of life's duties and affairs can be deter- 
mined and decided by the Word of God.; ' - 

. . „, . .. .. . ,. . TECE SPIRIT 'a IMPRESSIONS, '. .... . -. .... . . 

The Holy Spirit is given us f or a giiid^. With 
respect to our conduct and our duty, we often 
feel the impressions of the Spirit. The Word of 
God tells us to give of our goods as the Lord 
has prospered us, but the Spirit may often im- 
press us as to where to give. 

We feel impressed by the Spirit to give, we 
feel impressed to go to a certain place, we feel 
impressed to pray for such a one, we feel im- 
pressed to fast and pray, etc. Many a precious 
soul that once was full of joy and fatness is 
to-day in unrest and leanness because these 
impressions have been resisted. But are there 
not impressions given by an evil spirit? Most 
certainly, and these impressions have led many 
an honest soul into the wildest of fanaticism. 
Thank God, by living very humble, with all our 
motives very pure, and by acquaintance with 
the Word of God, we may know the voice of 
the Spirit of God and that of the evil spirit 
I have known people to receive and obey im- 
pressions to fast and piray that were given by 



44 FOOD FOE THE I^AMBS ; OR, 

Satan. God's Word and God's Spirit favor 
fasting and praying, but both are bounded by 
sound judgment; and in such matters we should 
not follow a spirit beyond what common sense 
would approve. 

It is blessed and beautiful to be led by the 
Spirit of God. If its impressions are not re- 
sisted, but encouraged by cheerful obedience, 
they will lead us into a blessed felicity with 
God and a deep acquaintance with him. An 
.evil spirit's whisperings can be very easily de- 
tected by one who has much communion with 
the Lord. Recently while standing on a steam- 
er's deck it was whispered to me that the 
steamer was an ill-fated vessel, and that I never 
should see home again. At first I did not know 
but that it was the voice of God, but soon I felt 
attempts being made to cast over me a torment- 
ing fear ; this aroused my suspicion that it was 
not God speaking, and to be convinced I allowed 
the spirit to talk on. For a while it tried to 
torment me with fears that I should never see 
the dear ones at home again, and then said, 
''You may as well cast yourself overboard into 
the deep." Ah! now I knew the Satanic spirit 
and I rebuked it in Jesus ' name. I reached my 



HELPS FOE YOUNG CHKISTIANS. 45 

home in safety. Praise the Lord! Try the 
spirits by the Word; Satan will soon expose 
himself. 

god's providences. 

In the sure guidance of God we have his 
Word and his Spirit and also his providences. 
Again, we would say, oh, how blessed to await 
the providences of God! His providences are 
always in favor of the righteous. ^'All things 
work together for good to them that love God. ' ' 
How many can look back through their lives 
and see how the providences of God have di- 
rected their ways. They may have planned, 
but God's providence overthrew and brought 
better things to pass. Trust in the providences 
of God, commit your way unto him, patiently 
wait, and he will guide you into the way that 
is best. Never get in a hurry, but wait on the 
Lord, and he will always make the way plain 
before you. I have learned never to take a step 
until I know it is ordered of God. In the provi- 
dence of God, Joseph was sold to a company 
of Ishmaelites and cast into prison and thus 
brought to be ruler over all Egypt. In the 
providences of God, Kish's asses went astray 
and Saul being sent in search of them was led 



^6 FOOD FOR TUB lambs; OR^, 

to the prophet Samuel, who anointed him king 
over Israel. You may meet with losses, all 
things may seem decidedly against you; but be 
patient, trust in the providence of God, and in 
time you will see his kind favor. 

If you value your happiness and success in 
life, wait on God. If yoii do not know which 
way to go or what thing to do, wait until you 
do know. God will surely guide you; he will 
open the way clear and plain before you. When 
he has given you full assurance, then go forward 
in all security. Mountains may rise before 
you, but he will pluck them up and cast them 
into the sea. Rivers and seas may lie across 
your path, but he will divide the waters and let 
you pass through. Live humbly and only for 
the glory of God. Trust in him with all the 
strength of your soul. See that all motives are 
as pure as heaven. Prayerfully seek a knowl- 
edge of God's will, patiently wait on him, 
cheerfully and promptly obey when his will is 
known, and he will lead you in the path of secur- 
ity, strewing the way with blessings and glory, 
and make your life one golden gleam of light 
across this dark world to lead others to the 
L?imb, 



HELPS FOR yOUNG CHRISTIANS. 47 

FRAGRANCE. 



Every saintly life on earth is a sweet fra- 
grance unto God, and every sinful life is a 
stench in his nostrils. As the rose scents the 
evening air, so a pure life scatters a sweet 
Christian influence and a knowledge of God 
throughout the world. The literal translation 
of 2 Cor. 2 : 14 reads thus : ' ^ But thanks be to 
God, who leads me on from place to place in 
the train of his triumph, to celebrate his vic- 
tory over the enemies of Christ, and by me 
sends forth the knowledge of him, a stream of 
fragrant incense, throughout the world.'/ A 
saintly life diffuses a sweet, heavenly fragrance 
throughout the world, and brings a knowledge 
of God and the nature of his salvation to the 
minds of men. Let me exhort you, therefore, 
to a pure life, a life full of devotion and rever- 
ence to God. You can make your life, by God's 
grace, a constant, flowing stream of fragrant 
incense, whose sweetness will linger long on 
the air after you have passed to higher realms. 
So may it be. 



48 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 

SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM. 



"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and 
his righteousness; and all these things shall be 
added unto you. ' ' Mat; 6 : 33. An injunction 
of much importance is here given. Verses 24 
to 34 of this chapter show how beautifully it is 
in the plan of God to care for his own. We are 
taught to have our trust in God for what we 
eat, for what we drink, for what we wear— for 
all the necessities of this life. We are referred 
to the fowls of the air and the lilies of the field, 
which take no thought for their life, but live in 
their happy, independent way, without care or 
trouble. These God cares for and says we are 
of more value than they. 

What a valuable lesson we are to learn from 
this! But is it really true that we are to have 
the same degree of freedom from care or anxi- 
ety that the fowls or the lilies have? We shall 
also ask, Is it really possible? This lesson 
surely teaches that we are to have such a trust 
in our Maker, and therefore it must be possi- 
ble. The apostle Paul instructs us in Phil. 4: 6, 
"Be careful for nothing; but in everything by 
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 49 

your requests be made known unto God/' And 
in another place, '*I would have you without 
carefulness. '^ Our lives are to be free from 
worry or anxiety about anything and every- 
thing. This feature alone of the divine life, 
or this principle alone in the economy of God's 
gracious plan, ought to represent salvation as 
a thing greatly to be desired. But in the face 
of this people fail to see anything desirable in 
it, because by their unbelief they hold such a 
life to be impracticable. By this kind of unbe= 
lief tjie enemy of souls deprives many of their 
privileges in Christ and hinders the world from 
seeing the real nature of the salvation experi- 
ence. 

How th^ world is estranged from the princi- 
ples of righteousness ! How it holds light to be 
darkness and darkness to be light! Instead of 
accounting that there is any reasonableness in 
such trust in God as is shown in this lesson they 
would fain be selfishly taking upon them- 
selves the responsibility of maintaining their 
own existence, and thus every one seek for his 
own gain. Thinking that they thus have an 
excuse for not devoting their time to God's 
per^c^. 3J0(} tliair ^pyitual welf ^xa tie tbxng^ 



50 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 

of the Lord are forgotten and neglected, and 
their souls consequently are lost. When will 
individuals learn that they have a spiritual as 
well as a physical existence, and that the spiri- 
tual is the more important of the two! Seek first 
the kingdom. 

But the fact that we wish to bring out most 
prominently is. that many .Christian, professors, 
who are supposed to be. example si of 'the Chris- 
tian life, do not comprehendcthe impOEti.X)f the 
text '^ Seek ye first the kingdoms of .God. "; The 
mistake is made on " the ^ word :fi'^:st. ' ^\ They 
think to obey this scripture hyi fir st gaining the 
profession of salvation, ■ presuihing then that 
the blessings of the kingdom will follow, while 
they live as selfishly as before and dig deBp into 
the things concerning the unTighteous martimdn. 
In so doing they fail to experience 'the blessings 
of the kingdom, and also misrepresent the king- 
dom to the world. The word first means not 
only first in time, but first in importance; and 
this idea of importance must ever:be held be- 
fore us, not only when we enter the kingdom, 
but throughout our whole Christian life; We 
aire to hold .the kingdom of righteousness: i:^r.si 
in all (mi lives., = Tf Tve h©i#''God-firit:iii-^^v*ei^» 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHEISTIANS. 51 

thing and consider what will be to his glory 
before we consider our own, we give God a 
chance to fulfil his word, and his own good 
pleasure in us will be accomplished. We then 
place ourselves in the order of his plan where 
it will be possible for him to do as he has prom- 
ised. 

The salvation life means an unselfish life. 
We are not to seek selfish glory in anything, but 
seek the glory of God first— SiboYe everything 
else. It has been remarked concerning certain 
ones who were struggling for an earthly exist- 
ence, that if they would only get saved ^^all 
these things'' (all earthly necessities) would be 
added unto them. But it is not those who 
merely get saved that can claim this promise; 
it is those who keep saved and carry out the 
principles of the plan of righteousness. ^^Seek 
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness ' ' 
in everything. Lose your own individuality in 
God, consign your all to him, live for his glory 
in all your life, then ' ' all these things shall be 
added unto you.'' 



52 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 



PRAYER. 



Upon this subject and the one following I 
have written in other works very similarly to 
this ; but since these subjects are so well adapted 
to a work of this nature I can hardly feel will- 
ing to leave them out. If you have read very 
similar words to these in other productions of 
mine, I hope the rereading of the subjects will 
not be time spent to no profit. 

The value of prayer can hardly be estimated. 
Unless you are willing to take up a life of 
prayer and keep it until the close, you had just 
as well not take up the Christian profession. 
Without prayer you will die. Some one has 
expressed it thus : 

"Prayer is our life, our soul's triumphant wings, 
The arm that holds the shield and hand that takes 
the crown; 
Along the line on which a thousand faithful prayers 
ascend. 
Surely God doth send ten thousand blessings 
down." 

What an honor it is to have audience with 
the King of glory ! He extends the golden scep- 
ter to us, and we come hopefully, confidingly, 



HELPS i^OR YOUKG CHRISTIANS. 53 

into his presence and tell him all that is in our 
hearts. It is only because we comprehend 
something of his great love to us that we ven- 
ture to come into his presence. Who would 
not consider it a great honor and blessed privi- 
lege to be admitted into the courts of the lords 
and the kings of earth? The greatest honor 
bestowed upon man is the privilege of coming 
into the presence of God and conversing with 
him. Alas ! how few appreciate the privilege of 
prayer! Plow few can properly estimate its 
true worth! Jesus by his example has taught 
us something of the worth of prayer. His ris- 
ing a great while before it was day to hold com- 
munion with the Father, and his spending all 
night in prayer to him, teach us something 
of its importance. If it was necessary for Jesus 
to spend so much time in prayer, how much 
more necessary for us. 

Prayer is the energy and life of the soul. It is 
the invincible armor which shields the devoted 
Christian from the poisoned missies shot forth 
from the batteries of hell. It is the mighty 
weapon in his hand with which he fights life's 
battles unto victory. He who lives in prayer 
reigns triumphant. His soul is filled with the 



54 FOOD FOR THE lambs; ok, 

peace of heaven. Power is given him over sin 
and the world. By prayer all storm-clouds are 
driven away, mountains of discouragement are 
cast into the sea, chasms of difficulties are 
bridged, hope is given wings, faith increases, 
and joys abound. Hell may rage and threaten, 
but he who is frequent and fervent in prayer 
experiences no alarm. By prayer the windows 
of heaven are opened, and showers of refresh- 
ing dews are rained upon the soul. It is as a 
watered garden, a fertile spot where blooms 
the unfading rose of Sharon and the lily-of-the- 
valley; where spread the undecaying, unwith- 
ering branches of the tree of life. 

By prayer the soul is nourished and strength- 
ened by the divine life. Do you long for deeper 
joys? for a greater sense of the divine fulness? 
for a sweeter balm of hope to be shed upon 
your soul? for a closer walk with God? then 
live much in prayer. Do you desire to feel the 
holy flame of love burning in all its intensity 
in your soul ? then enkindle it often at the golden 
altar of prayer. Without prayer, the inner 
being will weaken, famish, and die; the foun- 
tain of love dry up; the spring of joy cease to 
flow; the dews will fail to descend; and your 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 55 

k^art will become a parched and dreary desert 
Waste. 

Look upon the character of Jesus. Behold 
his lowliness, his meekness, gentleness, and ten- 
der compassion. Have they any beauty? and 
would you love to have them grace your own 
soull: then draw them down from the skies in 
all their gloriou-s fulness by the fervent prayer 
qI faith. As through the process of assimila- 
tion food is transformed into an active, living 
being; so through the medium of prayer the 
character of Jesus in all its transcendent beauty 
and glory becomes the character of man. 

If you desire victory during the day, begin 
it; with prayer. Not a few hurried words, but 
minutes of deep, intimate communion with God. 
Linger at the sacred altar of prayer until you 
feel particles of glory drop in richness into 
your soul, scattering sweetness throughout the 
whole and relating you to the world above. In 
tb[0 early morning hour, when the still, balmy 
breath r of liature plays around, let your soul 
fly away on the wings of prayer with its mes- 
sage of love and praise to its Maker. Jesus went 
oiit a 'great; while before day to hold communion 
wiM (xOsd.: [There is no time better suited for 



56 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 

prayer. The world is hushed in slumber. There 
is less sin being committed, and if the world 
ever is innocent, it is in the early morning 
time. We thus get an advantage of the devil 
and have sweet converse with God before the 
devil is aware. 

If you desire to be more deeply and sincerely 
pious, seek it in prayer. If you desire heights 
in God's love, depths in his grace, fulness in 
his joy, richness in his glory, seek it in prayer. 
Did you say you had not time for prayer? 
What a pity! Your happiness and usefulness 
in life depend upon it; your eternal welfare 
depends upon it— then, oh, what a pity you have 
no time for it! But you must find time. You 
can not afford to listen to Satan; there is too 
much at stake. This is an excuse that many 
allow Satan to make for them. Time for rest, 
time for eating, time for sleeping, time for 
friends, time for books ; but no time for prayer. 
This is a device of Satan to rob souls of the 
love of God. You must not give him such an 
advantage of you. 

In love for your spiritual welfare I beseech 
you in Jesus' name, live much in prayer. Go 
often into your closet, and then, with the loins 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 57 

of your mind girded up, in all earnestness of 
soul pray until the love of God and the light of 
heaven fills your being. Satan will try to make 
you listless and indifferent; he will try to make 
your thoughts to wander; he will tell you of 
many other things that need to be done that 
very moment; and many other things will he 
tell you to deprive you of the blessings of 
prayer. But you must resist him and go the 
more earnestly in prayer; and continue to pray 
until a rapture from the skies sweeps over your 
soul, making the place of prayer the dearest 
spot on earth to you. 

When the shades of night come softly stealing, 

Softly stealing o'er the window sill; 
When the busy day is slowly ending, 

Slowly ending peacefully and still,— 
Christian, with thy heart adoring Heaven, 

Sweetest glories falling from above, 
Go to God in secret, silent pleading. 

Tell to him the wondrous tale of love. 

When the morning light is gently dawning, 
Gently dawning in the eastern sky; 

When the darkness fast away is fleeing, 
Duties of the day are drawing nigh,— 



5B FOOD FOE THE LAMBS; OR, 

Down before the sacred, hallowed altar, 

Christian, bow before thy God in fervent prayer, 

Giving thanks to him for life's sweet blessings. 
For the day imploring his kind care. 

To be overcome to-day makes to-morrow's 
battles harder. 

If you would be a better Christian to-mor- 
row, live your very best to-day. 

Like as the warming rays of the autumn's 
sun melt the early frost, so the warmth of 
Christian love in our hearts will melt the cold- 
ness in the hearts of sinful men. 

Begin the day with prayer: it will fortify 
you against the tempter's power. The result 
of neglecting prayer is to be tossed furiously 
about upon the billows of temptation. 

Time is of too great worth to waste one pre- 
cious moment. An hour lost is that much of 
life lost. For all the time spent in idleness, 
you had just as well not have lived at all. By 
rightly using each moment you will build up 
a character that will stand a monument upon 
the tomb of the dead past. Moments misspent 



HELPS FOK YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 59 

are life and character gone, and no imprint is 
left on tlie hearts of men to tell that we have 
lived. How many golden moments are flying 
away into eternity unladen with any fruit from 
your life? Learn to value time. Eedeem it 
because these days are evil. Seize upon each 
passing moment, and send it up to the glorious 
xluthor of time laden with golden deeds. 



MEDITATION. 



The Scriptures invite Christians on to greater 
depths in the love of God and greater heights 
in his joy as they journey on through life. It 
is the will of God that you grow in grace and 
become more spiritual each day of your life. 
That meditation does affect one's spirituality 
is an undeniable fact. Meditating upon God 
and his law is an excellent means of increasing 
spiritual life in the soul. Vagrant thoughts 
dull the finer sensibilities of the spiritual being, 
thereby rendering it less capable of impression 
by the Holy Ghost. 

^ ' Keeping in touch with God " is an expression 
much used in these days by people professing 



60 



FOOD FOE THE LAMBS; OR, 



holiness, but wliat does it imply? We are all 
at sea when not in touch with him. To be so 
kept is to have everything in us fully alive to 
God. Every Christian grace must be in a per- 
fect stat6 of health and vigorous growth. If 
there be any dwarfed condition of the spiritual 
being in any part, it will be less sensible to God ^s 
touch. The blind have been known to cultivate 
the sense of touch in the physical being to the 
amazing acuteness of being able to distinguish 
between colors. The sense of touch in the soul 
can by careful, earnest cultivation be refined to 
such a degree as to make it susceptible to the 
slightest impressions of the Spirit of God. 

By an electric cable America is brought in 
touch with Europe. Were this to become divided, 
communication would cease. Sin divided the 
life-giving cable from the presence of God to 
the souls of men. In Jesus the divided cable 
is taken up and united, and man brought into 
communion with God. So cultured may become 
the sensibilities of the inner being, and so 
thoroughly impregnated by God's enlivening 
power, that one empty thought causing the 
slightest ebbing of life's current flow is keenly 
felt. To keep in perfect touch with God is to 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 61 

live where there is a soul-consciousness that he 
is pleased with every act of your life, and where 
there is a clear, definite witnessing of the Spirit 
to your inmost soul that the words of your 
mouth and the meditations of your heart are 
acceptable unto him. 

Useless thought makes the soul coarse, and 
difficult of impression by good influences. Pure 
and holy meditations are an excellent means 
for the refinement of your moral being. Pray- 
ing to God is talking to him, telling him the 
desires of the heart; whereas meditating upon 
God is contemplating his goodness, love, mercy, 
greatness, and wonderful works. Meditation 
prepares the heart for that deeper communion 
with God called prayer. Whoever gives atten- 
tion to his meditations, and has learned to fix his 
mind upon God; to whom ^^day unto day utter- 
eth speech, and night unto night showeth knowl- 
edge ; " to whom ' ' the heavens declare the glory 
of God," and who hears God's voice in nature 
and sees the goodness of his hand in all crea- 
tion,— finds no difficulty in drawing to God in 
prayer. If you allow your mind to wander 
vaguely about upon the vanities of the world, 
you will find prayer a difficult an^d rather an 



62 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 

unpleasant task. Learn, therefore, I beseech 
you, to stay your mind upon the Lord, and 
great will be the peace and quietness of your 
soul. Precious moments spent in idle chit-chat 
with your companions or indulging vagrant 
thoughts are time worse than wasted. As your 
mind acts once, so it is disposed to act again. 
The mind forms habits of thinking. Then, 
how careful you should be to direct it in proper 
and useful channels. . 

-Some people have found it difficult to prevent 
their thoughts from wandering while they were 
reading the Bible or in secret prayer. The 
wonderful works of God hardly awaken any 
admiration within tliem; they can not elevate 
the soul into a profound awe before his awful 
presence, and there is but little conscious 
depths of inner reverence and devotion to his 
name. There is a blessed and sure remedy for 
this serious trouble. Carefully watch your 
meditations. Call the oftener upon God in some 
silent, secret place.. Select some secluded, hal- 
lowed place, where nature is most inspiring for 
meditation. Isaac, the son of Abraham, went 
into the field at eventide to meditate. The even- 
ing is. a time well suited to dra.w the soul out 




THINKING OF THE LIFE BEYOND. 



HELPS FOB YOUNG CHBISTIANS. 65 

into deep, intimate communion with God. The 
the setting of the sun is a reminder of life's 
setting sun. You will be brought face to face 
with the fact that you must some day stand 
before Him who created all things. Your medi- 
tations will become serious. Oh, may you adore 
the Creator, and learn to admire his wondrous 
works! Go forth in the starry evening, when 
Nature is most inviting, and through her let 
your soul adore the Almighty, and let all within 
you be awed to solemn stillness at his footfall. 

Idle, careless thoughts generate a stupidity 
that will rob you of joy. The sensibilities of 
your inner nature will become deadened, and 
you can no more hear the solemn footsteps of 
the Lord, nor the whispers of his voice. Medi- 
tating upon pure and holy things and see- 
ing God in all, will elevate the soul to a plane 
all radiant with light and love, and put a meek- 
ness and modesty in your life and a sweet gen- 
tleness in every expression that will seem to 
make you akin to angels. 

Are you concerned about the peace of your 

soul! Is a happy life worth anything to youf 

Do you have any desire to become more like 

Jesus ! Do you want to do all you can for him 1 
5 



66 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 



Do you want to dwell in heaven with him for- 
ever! Then let your meditation be upon him, 
and your soul sipping at the fountain of 
Heaven's love as the flower drinks up the dew. 
I can not be too earnest in my exhortation to 
you in this matter. I know how important it is. 
I want to see you prosper and your soul increase 
in God; therefore I exhort you to meditate 
upon his law day and night. 



REVERIE. 

Down beside the rippling river 
'Neath the weeping willow-tree, 

Viewing nature sweet and lovely, 
Wond'ring what must heaven be. 

List'ning to the merry songsters 

In the near-by leafy world ; 
Such sweet music seems to bear me 

Nearer to the gates of gold. 

Breezes murm'ring through the branches, 
Waters rippling o'er the stone. 

What, oh, what must be the anthem 
Ringing round the great white throne ? 



HELPS FOB YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 67 

Songs of birds and streamlet rippling, 
Meadow, flowers, and leafy tree, 

Make of earth a land of beauty— 
What indeed must heaven be? 

If you love scenes of great grandeur, 

And to hear sweet music ring. 
Come, oh! come with me to heaven, 

To the land where Christ is king. 



A THEATER. 



A theater is a place where plays are per- 
formed before spectators. People go to such 
a place to witness the acts of men. The apostle 
Paul says, "We are made a spectacle unto the 
world. ' ' 1 Cor. 4:9. In the margin it reads 
'theater'' instead of "spectacle.'' In Cony- 
beare and Howson's translation this text reads 
thus: "To be gazed at in a theater by the 
world." You as a Christian are here in this 
world on exhibition for God. He is the char- 
acter you are to represent in life's great play. 
You must live in such a way as to do justice to 
his name. This world is looking on. God has 
written the entire play in his book. You hav^ 



68 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 

a life-time to play it in. If you will live in hum- 
ble obedience to all the Word of God, you will 
act your part well and faithfully represent his 
true character. 



REST OF THE SOUL. 



^^Come unto me, all ye that labor and are 
heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take 
my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am 
meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest 
unto your souls." Mat. 11:28, 29. Wonderful 
words of love and hope ! Never did a sweeter 
nor richer invitation than this reach mortal 
ears. A whole world of humankind groaning 
under a burden, tossing in unrest, laboring un- 
der pain, sighing with sorrow, roaming in dis- 
content, filled with fear, sinking in despair. 
But One appears upon the scene and says, 
^^Come unto me, and I will give you rest." 
Oh, may the humble followers of the lowly Naz- 
arene echo and reecho this invitation of love 
among the haunts of men as long as time shall 
last! Amid a world of sin and trouble, a soul 
at rest ; how blessed I 



HELPS FOK YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 69 

You remember the day you came to Mm. 
Your sins with all the burden of guilt were taken 
away and you found rest. Later you dedicated 
yourself fully and forever to the Lord and en- 
tered into the fulness of his rest. Canaan's fair 
land is the soul's sweet home of rest. What 
heaven will be we can not know now. Doubt- 
less scenes and experiences will arise of such a 
nature as to greatly enhance the felicity of our 
hearts; but the revelation of heaven upon a 
sanctified soul and 

"The enjoyment of heavenly bliss 
E'en in a world like this" 

can never be told. Storms will arise and 
threaten you; but if the cable of faith remains 
unbroken and the anchor of hope unshaken, 
your little bark can sail on sweetly at rest. 
Doubts are very destructive to soul-rest; there- 
fore they must be dispelled at their first ap- 
proach. By faith your soul can be kept in the 
precious realization of heavenly enjoyments; 
you can have sweet walks with God and tastes 
of his love all along your journey of life. By 
living in the vale of humble submission to God, 
fully and freely yielded to his control, upon 
your soul the sweets of heaven's graces will be 



70 FOOD FOE THE LAMBS; OK, 

distilled like the gentle siftings of the evening 
dew upon the flower, transporting yon to won- 
drous felicity in God all along your pilgrim 
way. 

Behold the fowls of the air: 

They sow not, neither do they reap; 

Yet kings have not more healthful fare, 
Nor rest in calmer, sweeter sleep. 

They have no barns nor hoarded grain, 

Yet all day long a soft, sweet strain 

They warble forth from forest tree; 

Ever happy aiid ever free, 

Teaching a lesson dear to me. 

So free from care, sylvan band; 

Fed by a heavenly Father's hand. 

Your freedom, ye fowls of heaven, 

New courage to my soul hath given; 

I no more can doubt or sorrow: 

God will care for me to-morrow. 

Behold the lilies how they grow: 

They toil not neither do they spin; 
Yet kings in all their pomp and show 

Are not arrayed like one of them; 
Smiling and free in breezes sway, 
Yet clothed by heavenly hand are they. 
Meek lilies of the quiet fields, 
Your growth instruction to me yields. 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 71 

The One who clothes the lily fair 
And gives . it tender j earnest care— 
A¥ill he not hear my fervent prayer? 
The One who notes the sparrow's fall- 
Does he not love his creatures all ? 
If he so clothes each tnft and tree 
And gives the birds such liberty, 
Will he not clothe and care for me^ 
I no more can doubt or sorrow: 
God will care for me to-morrow. 

A merry heart is a continual feast. 

It is the will of God that yon be always happy. 

If you are not contented with such things as 
you have, you would not be contented had you 
ever so much. 

Those who are always contented and happy 
are a most gracious contribution from God to a 
discontented world. 

This sin-darkened world is dotted here and 
there by beautiful Christian lives, which are to 
the world's weary wastes what the oasis is to 
the parched desert. 



72 



FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 



The Christian has the blessed privilege of 
proving to a covetous, discontented world that 
man can by the grace of God be contented under 
the most adverse circumstances. 

Oftentimes people conclude that they would 
be happy if their surrounding circumstances 
were different. True happiness consists not 
so much in the environments, as in the disposi- 
tions of the heart. 

After a day of labor, what a pleasure it is 
to meet at home the warmth of hearts we love ! 
After a life of toil, what will be the pleasure 
of meeting all the loved in heaven? 

I am told that the language of the Algon- 
quin Indians of North America contained no 
word from which to translate the word love. 
When the English missionaries translated the 
Bible into that language they were obliged to 
coin a word for love. What must be a language 
without love? and what must be the heart? 

The Christian out upon life's sea can, by 
faith, hope, and love, weather the wildest storm 
that ever the winds of adversity blew. Hope is 
the anchor fastened to the eternal word of God ; 
faith is the cable attached to the anchor hope. 




My pathway of life is now paved with peace, 
The flowers e'er bloom bright and gay; 

A halo of light is shed around me 
As I walk the beautiful way. 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 
HAPPINESS OF LIFE. 



75 



Down, down in the depths of infinite love, 
Filled with all the fulness of Ood, 

Joy's cup ev'ry moment filled from above. 
As adown life's pathway I trod. 

No sin sways its scepter over my soul, 
God's righteousness fills ev'ry part, 

His fulness of glory keeping the whole. 
And I love him with all my heart. 

Sing not to me of the pleasures of earth, 
I have found a much happier way; 

The joys of the Lord, of far greater worth. 
Are filling my life ev'ry day. 

Sorrow and sighing have flown away, 
From trouble and care I am free, 

The peace of God over my heart holds sway ; 
I am as happy as I can be. 

You are tempted, you say, and sorely tried; 

Of that I have nothing to say. 
The victory is mine whate'er may betide; 

I'm happy each hour of the day. 

My pathway of life is now paved with peace, 
The flow'rs ever bloom bright and gay; 

A halo of light is shed around me 
As I walk the beautiful way. 



76 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OE, 

THE HIDDEN HFE. 



You have experienced a resurrection. You 
once were dead in sin ; now you are alive unto 
God. You have been translated from the king- 
dom of darkness into the kingdom of light. 
You are a new creation; you have a new life. 
Though you have existence in this world, yet 
the world does not discover your true life. With 
Christ it is hid in God. The world knows noth- 
ing of you except as they see you in the life you 
live in the flesh. You have a higher life to 
which they are as insensible as the inanimate 
stone is to the life of the bird. You are one of 
God's "hidden ones/' and a stranger on the 
earth, because you are unknown. You are not 
found in the halls of worldly pleasure, but 
instead are to be found by the bedside of the 
sick, reading the Bible, praying, or speaking 
words of cheer and comfort, and the world 
wonders how you can enjoy yourself in such a 
way. You have a joy that is unknown to them, 
because you have a life that is hidden from 
them. That life of yours which is hid with 
Christ in God finds no enjoyment in the pleas- 
ures of the world. 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 77 

When adversity comes the world does not 
understand how it is that you can rejoice; and 
when circumstances are very unfavorable, how 
you can be happy is a mystery to them. It is 
because you do not live in the things of the 
world, but in a much higher realm. If your 
life is hid with Christ in God, your heart's long- 
ings will be for the things above ; all your affec- 
tions will be on things above. Those who live 
upon earth are seeking the things of earth; but 
those who live above in God seek the things 
which are above. Nothing of earth has any 
charms for them. Christ has won their hearts. 
They love him intensely. They live in him. 
They are sojourning here upon earth for a 
time, but their hearts are with Christ in heaven. 
Their home, their love, their treasures, their 
hopes, their thoughts, their life,— all are there, 
and they are seeking with eagerness for more 
of that sweet, precious life which is from above. 
They walk here almost like one in a dream, as 
concerning this world; they know but little of 
earth, but much of heaven. 

This earth is not my home, 
I live above, 



78 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 

Where peace and joys abound- 
Sweet land of love. 

My life is hid in God 
With Christ the Son, 

Though here on earth I am 
By earth unknown. 

I dwell in worlds above, 
By thought and prayer— 

Oh, blest eternal home! 
My heart is there. 



CONSCIOUSNESS OF GOD'S PRESENCE. 



Happy and blessed is the soul that is con- 
scious of God's sweet indwelling presence. 
Being conscious of God's presence is what the 
Psalmist meant when he said, ^ ^ taste and see 
that the Lord is good.'' ^* Tasting God" is an 
expression incomprehensible to the unregener- 
ate. Those who have tasted him comprehend 
the meaning of this expression better than they 
can tell it. When a bit of sugar is placed upon 
the tongue there is experienced a sweetness in 
the sense of taste. Wlien the soul tastes of God 
there is experienced a sweetness in the spiritual 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 79 

being. The sweetness of God's presence in the 
soul is as much more glorious than the sweet- 
ness of sugar to the taste as spiritual and heav- 
enly things are above literal and earthly things. 
God and his word are inseparable, or the word 
is God; therefore when the Psalmist says, ^^How 
sweet are thy words unto my taste ! yea, sweeter 
than honey to my mouth, " it is in reality tasting 
the sweetness of God. 

The awakened soul thirsts for this sweetness 
of the divine presence. Nothing else can satis- 
fy it. The wealth and pleasure of the world do 
not contain a sweetness sufficient to satisfy the 
heart of man. It is only God that can fill the 
hungry soul with goodness. The divine life 
sheds peace and light and rest in the soul. Man 
receives the divine presence into his spiritual 
being when he is quickened by the Spirit. In 
the Word of God it is termed '^passing from 
death unto life," and ''being born again." In 
sanctification when a revolution is effected in 
the nature of man and he becomes a pai'taker 
of the divine nature, it is then he is conscious 
of the fulness of the divine presence and is at 
rest. Glory be to God! 

To possess the divine presence in its fulness 



80 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OB, 

is not the end of the Christian race. There are 
certain conditions for man to meet in order to 
possess this glorious inheritance, and there are 
certain conditions for him to meet in order to 
retain it. Not only is man able, in the economy 
of grace, to retain the sweet consciousness of the 
divine presence in the soul, but in his hands are 
placed instruments that enable him to cultivate 
and deepen this consciousness. and thus add glo- 
ry to glory and cause his way to shine more and 
more unto the perfect day. Oh, how many Chris- 
tians would enjoy more of heaven's glory in 
their souls, if by careful cultivation they would 
increase the sense of the divine presence! Dear 
pilgrim, have you reached the land of ^* eternal 
weights of glory" or the regions where **joy 
is unspeakable"! 

To cultivate or deepen the sense of the divine 
presence requires an almost constant etfort. 
Kiglit at this point is where perhaps more Chris- 
tians have failed to do what was required of 
them than at any other; and consequently ex- 
perience less joy and power than formerly. 
There are many things employed by Satan to 
weaken this consciousness of God. Looseness 
of thought, moments of idleness, or yieldings to 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 81 

self, serve to weaken the reverential feeling in 
our hearts toward him. A little attention to the 
world, a little thought for the morrow, a little 
anxiet^^, a little too much talking,— these things 
destroy the consciousness of the divine presence 
in the soul, and rob us of spiritual power and 
rest. Living before God in prayer, holy and 
pure thoughts, the entertaining of right feelings 
toward God and man, acts of benevolence and 
self-sacrifice for the benefit of others, develop 
and fashion the soul more and more into the 
beauty of the divine life. 

It is the privilege of the saint so to walk in 
the presence of God and live in holy communion 
with him as to draw God's glory and life into 
his own, and give him a feature very distin- 
guishing for ordinary natural man. If we wish 
to be like Jesus and enjoy the sweet conscious- 
ness of his presence, we must live with him in 
prayer. As we improve the health and strength 
of our physical being by proper food and ex- 
ercise, so we improve the strength and beauty 
of our spiritual being by proper meditation and 
prayer. 



82 FOOD FOE THE LAMBS; OE, 

REFLECTION. 



How often when walking down the country 
lane in the twilight of a summer 's evening yon 
have looked upon the round, full moon and ex- 
claimed, ''What a tender, beautiful light! how 
soft and mellow is the glow!" But you must 
remember, the light is not its own. Of itsell.it 
ij^ a cold,, dark body. The great, luminary that 
so recently sank behind : the .western .hills is the 
real light. It pours its brilliant^^rays upon the 
moon and the moon reflects: the sun.'s light upon 
your pathway. The moon, therefore; is only a 
reflector. You stand before a' mirror and b.e- 
hold your face and form imaged in- the glass. 
The glass acts as a reflector, Tepr.oducing the 
objects that are placed before, il and shinB:upoEL 
it. The unregenerate heart is dark and reflects 
no light; but God can take it and cleanse, purge, 
and polish it, and make it capable of reflecting 
the virtues of heaven 's grace. 

1 Cor. 13:12 is rendered thus by Conybeare 
and Howson.: ''So now we see darkly, by a mir- 
ror ; but then face to face." While here, in this 
life we can not see the real and true glories of 
the eternal world; but we can see some of it§ 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 83 

beauties and glories mirrored in the face of na- 
ture and the Bible. The starry worlds above 
us, the verdant hills, the swaying forests, the 
waving grain, the fleeting cloud, the blooming 
flower, dimly shadow forth the glory that awaits 
our expectant souls in that bright world where 
angels dwell. 

The Greek text of 2 Cor. 3 : 18 is beautifully 
rendered in these words by the above mentioned 
translators: ^^With face unveiled we behold in 
a mirror the brightness of our Lord's glory, are 
ourselves transformed into the same likeness; 
and the glory which shines upon us is reflected 
by us, even as it proceeds from the Lord, the 
Spirit." These words are full of grandeur to 
my soul. Their wondrous beauty and sublimity 
can not fail to awaken admiration in every Spir- 
it-quickened and purity-loving lieart. You will 
see, Christian reader, the position you occupy 
as a follower of the Lamb of God. You are a 
reflector; you have no light of yourself. God 
shines his glory upon you and you reflect it to 
the world, and thus you become the light of the 
world. In one translation "character" is used 
instead of "glory." God's character is shined 



84 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OE, 

into your soul, and you are to reflect it to the 
world. 

There is another clause in the above quota- 
tion too full of riches and too well adapted to 
this work to pass by unnoticed. It is this : ''We 
behold in a mirror the brightness of our Lord's 
glory, are ourselves transformed into the 
same lik ness." We do not grow into salvation, 
neither do we grow into sanctification ; but after 
we receive this glorious experience there is still 
a continual transforming into a more perfect 
likeness of Christ. While in the Museum of 
Art in one of our large cities last spring I saw 
an artist reproducing on canvas a painting 
which hung upon the wall. I looked upon the 
painting on the wall and upon the reproduction 
before the artist. So far as I could see the 
reproduction was in exact imitation of the orig- 
inal ; but the eye of the artist could see farther 
than mine. He kept on applying the brush, giv- 
ing a slight touch here and a slight touch there, 
and soon I discovered that the features stood 
out in more perfect imitation. So let us stand 
before the original and let the Holy Spirit work 
in us that which is pleasing to God, and we 
shall be continually transformed into a more 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHEISTIANS. 85 

perfect likeness of God. This must be your 
daily life. Attend strictly to every Christian 
duty, be obedient to the Word and Spirit of 
God, and you will become more and more like 
him and your soul will be rich in grace. 



BECOMING. 



One translation has rendered Phil. 1 : 27 in 
these beautiful words : ' * Let your manner of life 
be becoming the gospel of Christ." We speak 
of anything being becoming when it gives a 
good appearance. An article of clothing be- 
comes you when it gives you a better or less 
awkward appearance. So your life is to be 
becoming to the gospel of Christ. You are to 
live so that your life will make the gospel of 
Christ more beautiful to the hearts of men. You 
can do this only by living just as the Bible reads. 
All the precious truths of the Bible are to read 
in your life just as they do in the Bible, and thus 
your life will give a better appearance to God^s 
Word and make it more real and interesting to 
the unsaved. 



86 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 



LOVE OF HOME. 



There are but few sweeter words in the En- 
glish language than the word home. I have 
thought the three sweetest words are mother, 
home, and heaven. Home is the dearest place 
in all the world to the Christian heart. To have 
a fond love for home is not at all injurious to 
Christian character. Those who have but little 
love for home will never succeed well in the 
Christian life. It may sometimes occur that 
some of the home members are so disagreeable 
that the Christian for peace' sake will quit the 
home roof ; but he still loves home. Sometimes 
young people think that to enjoy life they must 
get out from under parental rule and roof. We 
have an instance of this nature recorded in the 
Bible. How soon we learn of the prodigal's 
longing for the comforts of home. How often 
he thought of his father's house, that place so 
dear to him now. The love of home is a high 
mark of integrity. Show me one who has no 
love for home, and I will show you one who has 
but little true manhood or womanhood. The 
Bible command to young Christians is to be 
* * chaste, keepers at home. ' ' When our duty and 




A HAPPY HOME. 



HELPS FOE YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 89 

service to God demand our absence from home 
we submit and go in the strength of his grace, 
but lose not our love for home, and return in 
joy at Father's will. 

You can nowhere find more of heaven upon 
earth than in a Christian home. Look at the 
picture : A father with the Holy Bible, the moth- 
er and children listening in reverence to the 
heavenly message. . Where, I say, can you find 
more of heaven? Such a scene is most sweet 
and sacred. Methinks the angels bend low to 
catch the chants of praise that arise from those 
devoted hearts to the gates of heaven. **Such 
a picture, ' ' you may say, ' ^ is very beautiful and 
inspiring to look upon, but where is the real- 
ity!" Thank God, such a home can be real in 
life, and it is your duty as a Christian to help 
make it so. God is pleased with such a home. 
It is much to his praise. Since such homes are 
so rare they are all the more glorifying to God, 
and we should strive the more earnestly to have 
them real. 

In your home is the place to shine for God. 
It is the place to shed forth the radiant beams 
of Christian light from your grace-ladened soul. 
If you hope to prosper in the divine life, be your 



90 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OB, . 

best at home. Do not think you can be careless 
at home and then shine in the splendor of Chris- 
tian virtue when before the public. Your life at 
home leaves its mark upon you. Shine in Chris- 
tian beauty at home, and you will shine in beau- 
ty in public ; but attempt away from home to be 
more than you are at home, and you will miser- 
ably fail. A few years ago while in one of our 
large Eastern cities laboring for Jesus and souls 
for whom he died I wrote a few lines to the dear 
ones at home, which perhaps will not be out of 
place to insert here. 

When the light of day is dying 
And the shades of night steal on, 

Voices to my mem'ry whisper 
Of the dear loved ones at home. 

Ere the chandelier is lighted, 
Ere the day's last ray is gone, 

O'er me comes a fond remembrance 
Of the dear loved ones at home. 

Far above in arch of heaven 

Lamps are lighted one by one, 
But I only see the bright eyes 

Of the dear loved ones at home. 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 91 

Far away beyond the region 
Where I see those shining stars, 

Somewhere in the land of angels, 
Dwells a little boy of ours. 

Years ago one wintry evening 
Heaven's gate was opened wide, 

And an angel swift descended, 
With a sickle at his side. 

Paused he at our boy's low trundle 

In the evening twilight hour, 
Caught away his happy spirit 

To its home beyond the stars. 

How my heart adores the Giver 

Of all good o'er land and sea, 
But I praise him more than ever 

For the dear ones left to me 

As I think of her he gave me 

In my happy youthful time, 
How he bound our hearts together 

At love 's pure and sacred shrine ; 

As I think of her this moment, 

Given me by love divine, 
Seems I almost feel the pressure 

Of her gentle hand in mine. 



92 FOOD FOE THE LAMBS ; 0% 

In the arms of night I'm folded, 
Soon in dreamland I shall roam; 

Then I'll go and see the dear ones- 
See the dear loved ones at home. 



VICTORY. 



When you are forgotten or neglected, or pur- 
posely set at naught, and you smile inwardly, 
glorying in the insult or the oversight, because 
thereby counted worthy to suffer with Christ— 
that is victory. 

When your good is evil spoken of, when your 
yVishes are crossed, your taste offended, your 
advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed, 
and you take it all in patient, loving silence— 
that is victory. 

When you are content with any food, any 
raiment, any climate, any society, any solitude, 
any interruption by the will of God— that is 
victory. 

When you can lovingly and patiently bear 
with any disorder, any irregularity, any un- 
punctuality, or any annoyance— that is victory. 

Wlien you can stand face to face with waste, 
folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility, and 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 93 

endure it all as Jesus endured it— that is victory. 

When you never care to refer to yourself in 
conversation or to record your own good works, 
or to itch after commendation, when you can 
truly love to be unknown— that is victory. 

When, like Paul, you can throw all your suf- 
fering on Jesus, thus converting it into a means 
of knowing his overcoming grace, and can say 
from a surrendered heart, ^ ' Most gladly, ' ' there- 
fore, do ^'I take pleasure in infirmities, in re- 
proaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in 
distresses, for Christ's sake"— that is victory. 
2 Cor. 12:7-11. 

When death and life are both alike to you 
through Christ, and to do his perfect will, you 
delight not more in one than the other— that is 
victory, for, through him, you may become able 
to say, "Christ shall be magnified in my body, 
whether it be by life or by death." Phil. 1: 20. 
"Death is swallowed up in victory." 1 Cor. 
15:54. 

The perfect victory is to "put on the Lord 
Jesus Christ" and thus to triumph over one's 
self. Rom. 13:14. 

"In all things we are more than conquerors 
through him that loved us." Rom. 8: 37. 



94 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 

THE FIRST LOVE. 



You may wonder why we write so much about 
love. It is for the very best reason in the world. 
Nothing is so great as love, and no way so ex- 
cellent. It is difficult to bind people together 
where love is lacking. A religious people may 
resolve to live in peace and confidence with one 
another; but this they will find to be very diffi- 
cult if there is a deficiency of love. Love solves 
the problem; it removes every difficulty, and is 
the perfect bond of union. Nothing can sepa- 
rate hearts that are full of love. Love must be 
suppressed before division can be admitted. 
The most earnest exhortations and entreaties 
and the strongest reprovings fail to get men to 
attend to every Christian duty where love is 
wanting; but it is not difficult to persuade men 
to obey God and do all they can to glorify him 
when they love him with all their hearts. 

There was much in the life of the angel of the 
church at Ephesus that was praiseworthy; but 
something was lacking. He had left his first 
love. But, what is the first love? There is no 
diiference between first love and last love if it 
be love. Pure, genuine love is the same always 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 95 

—first, last, and all the time. The overseers of 
this church, and doubtless the church in general, 
had lost the ardor of the love which they had 
at the fir^. Oh, the warmth, the sweetness, of 
first love ! Do you not remember it, dear reader? 
When you were so clearly and wonderfully bom 
of the Spirit of God, how ardent was the love 
in your heart! It thrilled you with delight. 
There was a delicious, sweet taste all through 
your soul. How gladly you would have taken 
wings and have flown away to the arms of Him 
whom your heart loved. The word of God was 
to your soul like honeyed dew upon your lips. 
How delightful it was to labor for Jesus ! How 
preciously sweet to make the greatest sacrifices 
for his sake ! and to go away into some secret 
place and pray was dearer to you than can ever 
be. told. You found the greatest pleasure in 
attending to every Christian duty. I should be 
glad if I could describe to you just what that 
first love was in 3^our heart. I can not do this, 
neither can you ; but you know how it felt, and 
how joyful was your soul. Oh, blessed happy 
day, when your sins were washed away, and 
love .sang its sweetest lay within your soul.! 
.Now,. if you do not have the same ardor; the 



96 



same warmtli ; tlie same sweet relish for prayer, 
for the word of God, for a meeting; the same 
thrilling sense of sweetness in your soul; that 
same precious drawing toward God and toward 
the brethren; that same delight in laboring for 
Jesus; that same joy and happiness in making 
sacrifices for him and for your fellow man: if 
you do not feel those symptoms of love as deep- 
ly and as delightfully, and if they are not in you 
as actively as they were at the first,— you are 
like the church at Ephesus— you have left your 
first love. In Wilson's excellent translation this 
text reads, ''Thou hast relaxed thy first love.'* 
They had lost the intensity of their first love. 
It had relaxed, or lost tension, and had become 
languid. It does not matter to what you testify, 
or who you are, if you have not the same ardor 
and deep intensity of love that you had at the 
first, you have relaxed love. 

Do not deceive yourself. Do not make any 
excuses. There is no necessity of losing this 
fervency of love. The leaping, thrilling, bound- 
ing love can be kept in the full blaze of its in- 
tensity in your soul as long as you live. I can 
never encourage a cessation of love. No matter 
-what the circumstances, we can increase and 



HELPS FOE YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 97 

abound more and more in love. You may have 
works, you may have labor, you may have pa- 
tience; so did the church at Ephesus; but they 
had relaxed their first love. 

See to it, beloved, that you do not lose the 
deep fervency of love. Keep it burning in all 
its brightness and warmth; and the works and 
labor and patience are sure to follow. But do 
not let your works, and labor, and patience de- 
ceive you. See that there is an underlying prin- 
ciple of love in all you do. If your works and 
labor and patience be devoid of love, there will 
be a secret desire in your heart to attract at- 
tention, and a longing for a bit of praise. But 
if all is done in purest sincere godly love, the 
Joy you will find in doing is a full and sufficient 
reward. And, may the Lord give you under- 
standing. 



THE LITTLE FOXES. 



One little fox is, ''Some other time J ^ If you 
track him up, you come to his \io\q— never. 

Another little fox is, "'/ can't/ ^ Just set on 
him a plucky little *'/ can/' and he will kill him 
for you, 
7 



98 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 

"Another: bad -little fox; is; '''Just d Uttle^^ 
pxixiey self-will; worldly conformity, :^tc. That 
little mi'scliief will strip the whole vine if left 
go. ..■•■■■•■:•: . ■■.::' ■.";_■:; v:-::;;'. ' .-.^:- 

Another malignant little tot is ''I havenH 
faith.^' Hq slips into the vineyard through a 
knot-hole called self. You can shut him out by 
removing the self -plank and filling up with 
Jesus only. 

Another bad little fox is^ '^ I haven't power/ ^ 
Be sure and catch him. If you will take the 
pains to dig him up, you will find his nest some- 
where beyond the end of your present conse- 
cration. It will pay you to take him, if yoii 
have to ' ' dig deep ' ' and work hard. 

Another devouring little fox is, ''My church." 
"Salt" and '^fire" is the sure and only antidote 
for such nasty vermin. 

We will point out one nrore little fox, and he 
is able to devour all the fruit of the vineyard 
and kill the very vines. His species is "Fear." 
One good dose of ' 'perfect love'- will kill him 
stone-dead. And; a constant application .of .the 
blood of Christ will prevent this,, with rail Other 
little or big foxes, yea, and all other animals, 
ever coming to life again. 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHEISTIANS. 99 

SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 



A want of interest in the duties of secret de- 
votion is a mark of religious declension. It is 
well said that prayer is the Christian's vital 
breath. A devout spirit is truly the life .and 
soul of godliness. The soul can not but delight 
in communion with what it loves with warm 
affection. The disciple, when his graces are in 
exercise, does not enter into his closet and shut 
the door, that he may pray to his Father who 
is in secret, merely because it is a duty which 
must be done, but because it is a service which 
he delights to render, a pleasure which he is 
unwilling to forego. He goes to the mercy-seat 
as the thirsty hart goes to the refreshing brook. 
The springs of his strength are there. There he 
has blessed glimpses of his Savior's face, and 
unnumbered proofs of his affection. 

But sometimes the professing Christian comes 
to regard the place of secret intercourse with 
God with very different feelings. He loses, per- 
haps by a process so gradual that he is scarcely 
conscious of it for a time, the tenderness of heart, 
and the elevation and fervor of devout affec- 
tion that he had been used to feel in meeting 

LofC. 



100 FOOD FOE THE LAMBS; OK, 

God. There is less and less of spirit and more 
and more of form in his religious exercises. 
He retires at the accustomed time rather from 
force of habit than because inclination draws 
him. He is enclined to curtail his seasons of 
retirement or to neglect it altogether if a plaus- 
ible pretext can be found. He reproaches him- 
self, perhaps, but hopes that the evil will cure 
itself at length. And so he goes on from day 
to day, and week to week. Prayer— if his heart- 
less service deserves the name— affords him no 
pleasure and adds nothing to his strength. 
Where such a state of things exists it is evident 
that the pulses of spiritual life are ebbing fast. 
If the case is yours, dear reader, it ought to 
fill you with alarm. Satan is gaining an advan- 
tage of you and seducing you from God. 

A second sign of spiritual declension is indif- 
ference to the usual means of grace. The spir- 
itual life, not less than the natural life, requires 
appropriate and continual nourishment. For 
this want God has made ample provision in his 
Word. To the faithful disciple the Scriptures 
are rich in interest and profit. "0 how love 
1 thy law! it is my meditation all the day." 
To such a soul the preaching of the gospel is 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 101 

a joyful sound; and the place where kindred 
spirits mingle in social praise and worship is 
far more attractive than the scenes of worldly 
pleasure. But, alas ! from time to time it hap- 
pens that some who bear the Christian name 
and who have rejoiced in Christian hopes, in- 
sensibly lose their relish for the Scriptures. If 
they continue to read them daily, it is no longer 
with such appreciation of their power and 
beauty as makes them the bread of life, refresh- 
ing and invigorating the soul. Their minds 
are occupied no small portion of the time with 
thoughts of earthly things. They find it easy 
to excuse themselves from frequenting the place 
of social prayer, and even content themselves, 
perhaps, with an occasional half -day attendance 
on the more public service of the sanctuary. 
And when they are in the place of worship they 
feel listless , destitute of spiritual affection, dis- 
posed to notice others or to attend to only mere 
words and forms. They want, in a great meas- 
ure, that preparation of the heart, without which 
the means of grace are powerless and lacking in 
pleasure or profit to the soul. Such inditfer- 
ence is conclusive proof that the soul has de- 
parted from God; has grieved the Holy Spirit 



102 



and lost the vital power of godliness. If you, 
reader, are conscious of this indifference, see 
in it an infallible sign of your backsliding. It 
declares you have departed from the fountain 
of living waters and are a wanderer from your 
God. 

A third indication of declension in the Chris- 
tian life is a devotion to the world. * * Love not 
the world, neither the things that are in the 
world." Covetousness is idolatry. Christians 
are solemnly enjoined to set their affections on 
things above, and to lay up treasures in heaven. 
But look at yonder professed disciple. See how 
inordinately anxious he is about gain. He is 
giving all his thoughts and time to business. 
He enlarges his plans and extends his views. 
He suffers the hours of worldly business to en- 
croach upon the time which should be spent in se- 
cret or in family worship or in the social prayer. 
He forgets that he has no right to do this, and 
that he can not, without sin, permit the claims 
of earth to crowd out the claims of God and 
his own immortal nature. Look, too, at his 
compliance with the tastes and maxims of 
worldly people. He appears to feel it is not 
best to be strict in his adhesion to his princi- 



HELFS EQR YOUNG CHRISTIAJ^S. 103 

■|)le$.:, ■H<e:^<)iibtsl if ih^re is; any harm in this ox 
that or;, the other /worldly indulgence. He does 
not see the need of being so streiinous about 
little things. lie is anxious to please every- 
body and can not bear to thwart the wishes of 
the worldly-minded. If the world dislikes any 
of the doctrines or "the duties of religion he 
would have little said about them. In a word, 
he is all things to all men, in a very different 
sense from what Paul meant. In his senti- 
ments, his associations, his pleasures, his mode 
of doing business, his conversation, his whole 
character, there is far too little that evinces 
strength, of holy principle and godliness. 
reader, has your case been, described ! You are 
then„a backslider from the God whom you cov- 
enanted to serve. 

A fourth sigTi of a state of declension in spir- 
ituality is an unwillingness to receive Chris- 
tian ^counsel or reproof. . The Spirit of Christ 
is a tender, gentle, docile Spirit. When the 
heart of the, disciple is full of holy affection he 
feels: that he is frail and insufficient. He seeks 
wisdom, and strength from above and is thank- 
ful for the kind suggestions of those whose ex- 
perience and opportunities have been greater 



104 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OE, 

than his own. If he errs and is admonished by 
some faithful Christian brother, he receives it 
meekly and with a thankful spirit. **Let the 
righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness,'' is 
the language of his heart. Even though reproof 
in itself be painful, he would not that it should 
be omitted when he has been in fault, for he 
dreads nothing so much as doing wrong— as 
sinning against God and his own soul. 

But the spirit that departs from God and duty 
is a self-willed spirit. It is impatient of re- 
straint. It is irritable and captious instead of 
meek and willing to be taught. It can not brook 
any crossing of its views, but esteems advice 
impertinent and meets admonition with resent- 
ment. When he exhibits such a temper of 
mind; when he disregards the opinions and 
feelings of fellow Christians; when he affects 
independence and prides himself on doing as 
he pleases; when he keeps out of the reach of 
Christian counsel, and justifies himself when 
affectionately reproved; when he comes to re- 
gard the watchfulness of others over him as an 
unwelcome and irksome thing; [when he 
charges you with having a spirit of faultfind- 
ing, of having no charity, but that you only 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHEISTIANS. 105 

discourage and press liira down when yon try to 
show him his lack of spiritual life],— it is clear 
that he exhibits no more the fruits of the Holy 
Spirit's influence on his soul. His piety has 
declined; he no longer lives in intimacy with 
God and in the atmosphere of heaven. His 
light is dim. His glory has departed. 

The last indication of religious declension 
that we shall now speak of is a careless indiffer- 
ence to the danger arising from temptation. A 
Christian whose piety is warm and vigorous 
has great tenderness of conscience. He dreads 
the least approach of evil. Even the sugges- 
tions of sin to the mind are painful. He there- 
fore prays earnestly and daily, "Lead me not 
into temptation," and carefully avoids placing 
himself in dangerous circumstances. Some- 
times, however, you will see professing Chris- 
tians who seem to want this instinctive sense 
of danger. They often place themselves in cir- 
cumstances when they might easily have fore- 
seen their strength of principle would be liable 
to be put to the severest test. They keep com- 
pany in which it is nearly impossible that their 
moral feelings should not be defiled. They 
allow themselves to assort with the idle, the 



106 FOOD FOE THE LAMBS; OE, 

frivolous, with those who are given to foolish 
talking and jesting; they indulge idle thoughts, 
repeat amusing stories, read books and papers 
that do not gender to piety, etc. But he who is 
willing to go as far toward evil as he can with 
safety, has lost one of the greatest safe-guards 
of virtue. He who is ready to tamper with temp- 
tation is on dangerous ground and in a sad 
state of declension. reader, turn ye about, 
shake loose from the world, draw nigh to God, 
let the deep breathings waft your soul upward 
and upward to greater heights in God's joy and 
love, and this world will only be a dim specter 
in the distance. 



DILIGENCE. 



''0 for a closer walk with God!'' This is the 
inward pleading of many a precious blood- 
washed soul. I beg leave to tell you: that that 
fulness of God, that deep and perfect satisfac- 
tion of soul, that sweet feeling of deep rever- 
ence, that hushed and sacred feeling of awe, 
that close walk with God, is obtained and re- 
tained only by the utmost diligence. Slothful- 
ness in the Christian life is a sure source of 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 107 

degeneration. Too frequently when saints 
reach ^^fair Canaan's happy land'' they think 
they have nothing now to do but to sing and 
shout and praise God and go to heaven '*on 
flowery beds of ease." To every newly arrived 
Christian in Canaan is given the command, *'Go 
forward and possess the land." To do this 
battles must be fought, giant foes must be de- 
feated, and the greatest diligence must be prac- 
tised. God promised ancient Israel to drive 
out all the nations of Canaan from before them, 
and that every place whereon the soles of their 
feet should tread should be theirs, if they would 
diligently keep all the commandments that the 
Lord commanded them, to love the Lord, to 
walk in his ways, and to cleave unto him. See 
Deut. 11:22-24. 

If we will diligently obey God and go forward 
at his command he will lead us where the milk 
and honey flow, and where the pastures are 
green. Our walk with him will be sweet and our 
souls perfectly satisfied. Since the term dili- 
gence is so frequently used in Scripture and 
such emphasis placed upon it, it is well worth 
our time to learn its meaning. We often, among 
the saints, hear testimonies like these: **I am 



108 rOOD FOB THE LAMBS J OB, 

living up to all the Word of God"; or, *^A11 the 
Bible requires of me, I am doing"; *'I love 
God and find delight in doing all his will," etc. 
Such expressions are very full of meaning and 
may sometimes mean more than the witness 
comprehends. Let me ask you. Are you as dili- 
gent in every respect as the Bible commands 
you to be"? 

Diligence implies an earnest and constant 
effort to accomplish a desired end— a careful- 
ness, a heedfulness, an industry, a close and 
fixed attention. 

Many a heart has been robbed of the love of 
God because it was not kept by diligence. Many 
a beloved saint can look back to a few years ago 
when his soul was more fully satisfied and his 
heart abounded more in the love of God, and 
all because diligence was not given to '^keep 
the heart. ' ' In Josh. 22 : 5 the commandment 
is to take diligent heed to love God, to walk in 
his ways, to keep his commandments, to cleave 
unto him, and to serve him with all the heart 
and with all the soul. May the Lord help the 
reader to comprehend the strength of this com- 
mandment. how precious! To take diligent 
heed to love God, implies a careful avoidance 



HELPS FOE YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 109 

of eveiy tiling' that would have a tendency to 
suppress his love in our hearts and to eagerly 
seek all possible means of increasing that 
love. All company whose spirit and conversa- 
tion have a tendency to destroy love is avoided 
as far as possible without violating the com- 
mand, ''Be courteous.'^ Reading amusing sto- 
ries; telling amusing, worldly incidents, the 
happenings of bygone days; fondness for the 
general news of the day; gossiping; admiration 
for the pomp and show of the world; careless, 
idle thoughts; fondness for society,— all serve 
to extinguish the love of God in our hearts. 
Talking with others about God and his works, 
reading his Word, meditating upon him, pray- 
ing, attending meetings, doing good to all men, 
giving of our means to advance his cause,— 
all these increase the love in our hearts toward 
him. To be diligent, to serve the Lord with all 
the heart and with all the soul, is to be indus- 
trious in doing all we can for him; seeking op- 
portunities of doing good, carefulness in obey- 
ing all his commands, testifying to the works 
of God, and showing forth his praises contin- 
ually. 

Your soul may long for a closer walk with 



110 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 

God, and well that it does; but if you do not 
keep your heart with all diligence from the 
world, you will never enjoy the blessed experi- 
ence. But by giving diligence you can have 
such a walk with God as to fully satisfy your 
soul. 



LOWLINESS. 



But few traits of Christian character are 
more lovely than lowliness. Humility, meek- 
ness, and lowliness are terms nearly synony- 
mous, but not wholly so. It is somewhat diffi- 
cult for the mind to grasp the shades of differ- 
ence in their meaning. It appears, however, 
that lowliness is the deepest depth of humility 
and meekness. Meekness is the opposite of im- 
patience, harshness, or irritability, and has for 
its fruit gentleness and kindness. Humility is 
the opposite of pride, and has for its fruits 
modesty, unforwardness, etc. Lowliness is sim- 
ply the opposite of highness in self in any re- 
spect, and has for its fruits meekness and 
humility with their fruits. 

To us this command is given: ^Walk worthy 
of your vocation with all lowliness.' If you 



HELPS FOE YOUNG CHRISTIANS. Ill 

have the experience of ^^all lowliness, ' ' you 
will go on in your vocation without discourage- 
ment and disappointmentj though you are unno- 
ticed and wholly ignored. And though God 
promotes others and honors them and they are 
loved and praised by men, you are glad for 
them and rejoice. If you have the experience 
of *^all lowliness '^ in your soul, you will not 
have the least disposition to lift up self. All 
you do and say will be in godly sincerity. Now 
look closely. 

If God heals some one through your prayers, 
be careful when you tell of the healing that it 
is to lift up the Lord only. If you have com- 
posed a song, and sing it to a company who do 
not know that it is your song, then you tell 
them the Lord gave you the song, what is your 
motive? Do you want them to know how good 
and great the Lord is, and nothing more? or do 
you want them to know that you are the author? 
I say, look closely into your motive. If, from 
the lowliness of your heart, you desire in all you 
do and say, only to exalt the Lord, it will be felt 
in the depth of your speech, and God will be hon- 
ored ; but if there is the least inclination or feel- 
ing to exalt self, it will be felt in the graceless- 



112 FOOD FOE THE LAMBS*, OB, 

ness of your speech, and God will be dislion- 
ored. Go humbly on in life attending to the 
work God has assigned to you, doing it well 
and in all lowliness of heart before him, and 
be content. 



ON DRESS. 



If you could be as humble when you choose 
rich apparel (which I flatly deny), yet you 
could not be as beneficent, as plenteous in good 
works. Therefore every shilling that you 
needlessly spend on your apparel is in effect 
stolen from the poor! For what end do you 
want these ornaments? To please God? No!— 
but to please your own fancy or to gain the 
admiration and applause of those who are no 
wiser than yourself. If so, what you wear you 
are in effect tearing from the back of the naked ; 
and the costly and delicate food you eat, you 
are snatching from the mouth of the hungry. 
For mercy, for pit^^, for Christ's sake, for the 
honor of his gospel, stay your hand! Do not 
throw this money away. Do not lay out on 
nothing, yea worse than nothing, what may 



HELPS FOE YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 113 

clothe your poor, naked, shivering fellow 
creatures. 

Many years ago, when I was at Oxford, on 
a cold winter's day, a young maid (one of those 
we keep at school) called on me. I said, '^You 
seem half starved. Have you nothing to cover 
you but that thin gown?" She said, *^Sir, this 
is all I have. ' ' I put my hand in my pocket, but 
found no money left, having just paid away 
all that I had. It struck me, ''Will thy Master 
say, 'Well done, good and faithful steward. 
Thou hast adorned thy wall with the money 
which might have screened this poor creature 
from the cold'? justice! mercy! Are not 
these pictures the blood of the poor maid? See 
thy expensive apparel in the same light; thy 
gown, hat, head-dress!" 

Everything about thee which costs more than 
Christian duty required thee to lay on, is the 
blood of the poor ! Oh, be wise for the time to 
come ! Be more merciful ; more faithful to God 
and man; more abundantly clad (like men and 
women professing godliness) with good works. 

It is stark, staring nonsense to say, "Oh, I 
can afford this or that!" If you have regard to 
common sense, let that silly word never com© 

8 



114 



into Yout -moutli. No man living can afford to 
throw away any part of that food or raiment 
into the sea which was lodged with him on pur- 
pose to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. 
And it is far worse than waste to spend any 
part of it in gay and costly apparel. For this 
is -no less than to turn wholesome food into 
deadly poison. - It is giving so much money to 
poison both yourself and others as far as your 
exam-ple spreads, with pride, vanity, anger, lust, 
love of the world, and a thousand "foolish and 
hurtful desires" which tend to ''pierce them 
through with many sorrows. ' ' God, arise and 
maintain thy own cause! Let not men and 
devils any longer put out our eyes and lead us 
hlindfolded into the pit of destruction. 

God demands of his people that they dress 
modestly as becomes people who profess holi- 
ti^ss. The putting on of apparel for adorn- 
ment and the wearing of jewelry are not con- 
sistent with Christian modesty. The nude and 
lewd, art of dressing which is becoming so prev- 
alent among professors of Christ is an abomi- 
nation In the sight of God, and a practise which 
n-O .virtuous man ar woman can countenance, 
if :profe^s4rs. would stop and consider- the char- 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 115 

acter of women who invent popular fashions of 
the age they might well blush with shame at 
their eager attempts to follow the modern styles 
of dress invented by the wicked leaders of fash- 
ion in London and Paris, whence the latest 
styles of this country generally emanate. It is 
indeed sad to behold the young of to-day mak- 
ing themselves unfit to fulfil the sacred func- 
tions of wife and mother by the use of the mod- 
ern corset, as well as laying a foundation for 
years of misery, dragged out in this life by 
diseases brought upon them by catering to the 
creed of millions who worship at the shrine of 
Fashion. The pride of their hearts, pampered 
and fed by the foolish practises of the age, blinds 
them to their obligations to God as a Creator 
and Savior ; and amid the whirl of earthly van- 
ity they hasten to the awful doom that awaits all 
who fail to obey the gospel of Christ. 

The Word of Grod gives plain directions to 
Christians as to how they should dress. In 
olden times God permitted his people to wear 
some jewelry ; that is, there was no law against 
it ; but there came a time when he promised that 
he would cleanse the hearts of his people from 
all pride and vanity, and they should find no 



116 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 

pleasure in putting on ornamental dress and 
jewelry, and costly array. In Isa. 3 : 16-23 we 
have a clear prophecy of the gospel age, and 
how God was going to have Ms people dress 
modestly in accordance with their profession. 
We shall quote from the LXX: ^^Thus saith 
the Lord, because the daughters of Sion are 
haughty, and have walked with an outstretched 
neck, and with winking of the eyes, and motion 
of the feet: . . . therefore the Lord will hum- 
ble the chief daughters of Sion, and the Lord 
will expose their form in that day; and the Lord 
will take away the glory of their raiment, the 
curls and the fringes, and the crescents, and the 
chains, and the ornaments of their faces, and the 
array of glorious ornaments, and the armlets, 
and the bracelets, and the wreathed work, and 
the finger-rings, and the ornaments for the right 
hand, and the earrings, and the garments with 
scarlet borders, and the garments with purple 
grounds, and the shawls to be worn in the house, 
and the Spartan transparent dresses, and those 
made of fine linen, and the purple ones, and the 
scarlet ones, and the fine linen, interwoven with 
gold and purple, and the light coverings for 
couches. ' ' 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 117 

We shall now quote from the New Testa- 
ment: ^^In like manner also, that women 
adorn themselves in modest apparel, with 
shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided 
hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but 
(which becometh women professing godliness) 
with good works." 1 Tim. 2:9, 10. 

'^Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your 
own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, 
they also may without the word be won by the 
conversation of the wives; while they behold 
your chaste conversation coupled with fear, 
whose adorning let it not be that outward adorn- 
ing of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, 
or of putting on of apparel ; but let it be the hid- 
den man of the heart, in that which is not cor- 
ruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet 
spirit, which is in the sight of God of great 
price." 1 Pet. 3:1-4. 

The wearing of feathers, artificial flowers, 
frills, flounces, unnecessary tucks and trimmings, 
is not in harmony with the gospel standard of 
modest apparel. Queer-shaped hats, such as 
we see worn by the people who follow the fash- 
ions of the world, should be avoided by the 
saints as they would every other thing unbe- 



118 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 

coming to a Christian; not fashioning them- 
selves according to their former lusts in their 
ignorance. "But as he which hath called you 
is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conver- 
sation." 1 Pet. 1:15. 

The all-wise God who gave these commands 
knows what is for the good of his people, and 
if we love him, we will obey. When the heart 
is cleansed from all pride there will be no diffi- 
culty in measuring up to the gospel on the mat- 
ter of modest apparel. We trust all who read 
this may realize it is truth. 



THE ELIXIR OF LIFE. 



I have seen patent medicines bearing the 
above title. By the word elixir is meant length 
of days and happiness. The medical man by 
labeling his cordial with this title offers to give 
to all who will take it a long life of happiness. 
Such things have their sad failures; but I will 
offer to you a prescription, which, if you will 
carefully follow, will prove an unfailing elixir 
of life. "For he that will love life, and see good 
days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 119 

bis lips that they speak no guile : let him eschew 
evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue 
it." 1 Pet. 3: 10, 11. If the reader will follow 
these directions strictly, making them practical 
in every-day life, we can upon the authority 
God has given insure him a long and happy 
life. 



RULES FOR EVERY-DAY LIFE. 



"Let your speech be alwa^^ with grace, sea- 
soned with salt." Col. liG. 

''Withhold not good from them to whom it 
is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to 
do it." Prov. 3:27. 

' ' Walk in wisdom toward them that are with- 
out." Col 4:5. 

"Do all things without murmurings and dis- 
putings." PhiL 2:14. 

"Let another man praise thee, and not thine 
own mouth. ' ' Prov. 27 : 2. 

"Be thou diligent to know the state of thy 
flocks." Prov. 27:23. 

"Eat so much as is sufficient for thee." Prov. 
25:16. 



120 FOOD FOE THE LAMBS; OK, 

'*Be not wise in your own conceits.*' Rom. 
12:16. 

** Abstain from all appearance of evil." 
1 Thes. 5:22. 

^^See that none render evil for evil unto any 
man.'* 1 Thes. 5:15. 

'^Be kindly affectioned one to another with 
brotherly love. ' ' Rom. 12 : 10. 

^*Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil 
with good.'* Rom. 12:21. 

**Be content with such things as ye have." 
Heb. 13:5. 

''Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it 
with thy might." Eccl. 9: 10. 

''Let all things be done with charity." 1 Cor. 
16:14. 

"Count it all joy when ye fall into divers 
temptations." Jas. 1:2. 

"Keep thyself pure." 1 Tim. 5:22. 

' ' In everything give thanks. ' ' 1 Thes. 5 : 18. 

"Keep yourselves in the love of God." 
Jude 21. 

"Praying always with all prayer and suppli- 
cation in the Spirit, and watching thereunto 
with all perseverance and supplication for all 
saints." Eph. 6:18. 



I 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 121 

A HOLY HFE. 



What, in its true sense, is a holy life? It is 
the life of Jesus. His whole manner of life 
was truly holy. His life is the ideal life. If we 
would live holy, we must live as he lived. We 
must walk as he walked. The artist has his 
ideal before him, and with touches of the brush 
here and there upon his drawing he forms a 
picture in an exact image of the ideal. The 
life of Jesus is what we are to imitate. He sets 
the example of holy living and calls us to the 
same holy life. '^As he which hath called you 
is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversa- 
tion." 1 Pet. 1: 15. This text has a better ren- 
dering in the Revised Version: ^'Like as he 
which called you is holy, be ye yourselves also 
holy in all manner of living." We, as Chris- 
tians, are God's offspring and as such are 
like him. 

Holiness in the life of Jesus is found not only 
in the greater miracles which he performed, but 
also in the lesser happenings of his life. The 
restoring of life to the dead is no more beauti- 
fully holy than the laying of his hands upon the 
heads of children and blessing them. His 



122 FOOD FOE THE LAMBS; OR, 

memorable Sermon on the Mount no more por- 
trays the loveliness of his character than the 
conversation with the woman by the wayside 
well. It is the little things in every-day life, 
if attended to and kept in the meekness and 
solemnity of the Spirit of Christ, that make life 
truly beautiful and holy. It is not the eloquent 
sermon that makes a life so sublime; but it is 
the tender smile, the kind word, the gentle look, 
that is given to all. It is the patient manner in 
which all the little trying and provoking things 
of life are met. 

You may preach or write ever so forcibly and 
eloquently, and bring out the sublime truths 
of the Bible in great beauty; but if, in the pri- 
vacy of your own home, there are little fret- 
tings, a little peevishness, a little crossness, a 
little levity, a little selfishness, a little distrust, 
your life is not as truly holy as it should be. 
If you desire God's holy image to be stamped 
upon your soul, your countenance, and your life, 
carefully avoid the little sprigs of lightness, 
the little bits of sloth and indolence, touches of 
forwardness, rudeness, coarseness, and cross- 
ness, and acts of selfishness, etc. 

Pure words belong to a holy life. You should 



HELPS FOE YOTJKG CHUlSTlANS. 123 

use the very choicest words. Words that are 
wholly free from vulgarity, slang, and the spirit 
of the world. Untidiness, uncleanness, careless- 
ness, and shabbiness are not at all beautiful 
ornaments in a holy life. But quietness, modesty, 
and reticence are gems which sparkle in a holy 
life like diamond sets in a band of gold. Give 
attention to your words, your thoughts, your 
tone of voice, your feelings, the practise of self- 
denial, of little acts of benevolence, of prompt- 
ness, of method and order. These are auxilia- 
ries to holy living. Are there not many little 
things in your home life that you can improve 
upon? Seek God for help and be truly holy. 



A SOLITARY WAY. 



There is a mystery in human hearts, 
And though we be encircled by a host 
Of those who love us well, and are beloved, 
To ev'ry one of us, from time to time. 
There comes a sense of utter loneliness. 
Our dearest friend is "stranger" to our joy, 
And can not realize our bitterness. 
"There is not one who really understands, 
Not one to enter into all I feel," 
Such is the cry of each of us in turn. 



124 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS ; OR, 

We wander in '*a solitary way," 

No matter what or where our lot may be; 

Each heart, mysterious even to itself, 

Must live its inner life in solitude. 

And would you know the reason why this is? 

It is because the Lord desires our love. 

In ev'ry heart he wishes to be first, 

He therefore keeps the secret key himself. 

To open all its chambers, and to bless 

With perfect sympathy and holy peace 

Each solitary soul which comes to him. 

So when we feel this loneliness it is 

The voice of Jesus saying, ''Come to me"; 

And ev'ry time we are "not understood," 

It is a call to us to come again: 

For Christ alone can satisfy the soul. 

And those who walk with him from day to day 

Can never have "a solitary way." 

And when beneath some heavy cross you faint 

And say, "I can not bear this load alone," 

You say the truth. Christ made it purposely 

So heavy that you must return to him. 

The bitter grief, which "no one understands," 

Conveys a secret message from the King, 

Entreating you to come to him again. 

The "Man of sorrows" understands it well, 

^"In all points tempted," he can feel with you; 
You can not come too often, or too near. 
The Son of God is infinite in grace, 

" His presence satisfies the longing soul; 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 125 

And those who walk with him from day to day 
Can never have "a solitary way." 



STIRRING THE EAGLE'S NEST. 



"As an eagle stirreth up her nest, that flut- 
tereth over her young, he spread abroad his 
wings, he took them, he bare them on his 
pinions. ' ' 

That picture is full of poetry, full of life and 
truth and beauty. Mark it. Have you ever 
seen an eagle stir up her nest? You know what 
happens. There in the nest, right upon the 
rocky heights, are the eaglets. The mother eagle 
comes and, taking hold of them, flings them out 
of the nest. They were so comfortable there, 
but she flings them right out of the nest, high 
above the earth. They begin to fall straight- 
way. They never have been in air before ; they 
have always been in the nest. 

Is not that mother bird cruel! Why does 
she disturb the eaglets f 

Watch her and you will understand. As long 
as you look upon the struggling eaglets in the 
air you miss the point. Watch the eagle. Hav- 



126 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 

ing stirred up her nest, ''she spreadeth abroad 
her pinions," the pinions that beat the air be- 
hind her as she rises superior to it. Where are 
the eaglets^ Struggling, falling; she is supe- 
rior; they are falling. Then whsit does she do! 
' ' She beareth them on her pinions. ' ' She swoops 
beneath them, catches them on her wings, and 
bears them up. What is she doing? Teaching 
them to fly. She drops them again, and again 
they struggle in the air, but this time not so 
helplessly. They are finding out what she 
means. She spreads her pinions to show them 
how to fly, and as they fall again, she catches 
them again. That is how God deals with you 
and me. 

Has he been stirring up your nest*? Has he 
flung you out until you feel lost in an element 
that is new and strange ? Look at him. He is 
not lost in that element. He spreads out the 
wings of omnipotence to teach us how to soar. 
What then? He comes beneath us and catches 
us on his wings. We thought when he flung us 
out of the nest it was unkind. No; he was 
teaching us to fly that we might enter into the 
spirit of the promise, "They shall mount up 
with wings as eagles. ' ' He would teach us how 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 127 

to use the gifts which he has bestowed on us, 
and which we can not use as long as we are in 
the nest. 

Fancy keeping eaglets in the nest! It is con- 
trary to their nature, contrary to the purposes 
for which they are framed and fitted. There 
is a purpose in the eagle. What is iti Flight 
upward. There is a purpose in your life, new- 
born child of God! What is it? Flight God- 
ward, sunward, heavenward. If you stop in the 
nest you will never get there. God comes into 
your life and disturbs you, breaks up your 
plans, and extinguishes your hopes, the lights 
that have lured you on. He spoils everything ; 
what for? That he may get you on his wings 
and teach you the secret forces of your own 
life, and lead you to the higher development and 
higher purposes. The government of God is a 
disturbing element, but, praise his name! it is 
a progressive element. 



SOME THINGS YOTJ SHOULD NOT DO. 



Do not forget to pray. 

Do not waste any moments in idleness. 

Do not use slang words in your conversation. 



128 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OE, 

Do not build air-castles. 

Do not think evil nor speak evil of any one. 

Do not lack showing courtesy to all men. 

Do not be rude in manners. 

Do not think yourself to be something more 
than you are. 

Do not try to make others think you are better 
than you really are. 

Do not tell the faults of a friend to others. 

Do not wear what the Bible condemns. 

Do not dress slovenly. 

Do not work too much. 

Do not work too little. 

Do not talk too much. 

Do not eat too much. 

Do not sleep too much. 

Do not neglect going to meetings. 

Do not neglect giving all you can to the cause 
of Christ. 

Do not neglect reading the Bible. 

Do not do to others what you would not like 
for them to do to you. 

Do not forget to practise much self-denial. 

Do not neglect to be zealously affected in a 
good cause. 

Do not neglect to admonish your brother. 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 129 

Do not seek the praise of men. 

Do not do anything through strife or vain 
glory. 

Do not be afraid of the devil. 

Do not think your trials are greater than 
those of others. 

Do not neglect to bear the burdens of others. 

Do not neglect to bear your own burdens. 

Do not fret, worry, nor murmur. 

Do not testify to something you do not live. 

Do not let your thoughts wander idly about. 

Do not neglect to show meekness and kind- 
ness to all men. 

Do not compromise with sin to the least de- 
gree. 

Do not neglect your salvation. 

Do not weary in well-doing, knowing in due 
season you shall reap if you 

Do not faint. 



PURITY. 



There are but few words in the English lan- 
guage sweeter and' more beautiful than the 
word purity. What tender, mellow light beams 

out from its depths through its crystal clear- 
9 



130 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 

ness! what a halo of glory encircles it! what a 
sweet melody is contained in the sound, which, 
as it falls upon the soul, awakens all that is 
manly, noble, and godly there! Purity! who 
can repeat this word and not feel and hear a 
sweet rythm reverberating through all the ave- 
nues of his spiritual being? "Keep thyself 
pure.'' is there a soul so deep in slumber, so 
stupefied by the opiates of sin, as to know no 
awakening by the sweet melodious chimes that 
ring out from this heavenly command? Dis- 
mal, indeed, must be the heart in which no aspi- 
rations for a pure, devoted life are awakened 
by these glorious words. 

Listen, my soul, to the sweet music, "Keep 
thyself pure.'' Tuned by the Spirit and sung 
by the voice of inspiration, in the bright morn- 
ing of this glorious gospel day, it comes ringing 
down through the ages and is awakening desires 
and aspirations for the truest nobility of man- 
hood, the deepest piety, and the highest plane 
of moral purity to which man can attain through 
the redeeming grace of God. 

The command to you, young man, i^"Keep 
thyself pure"; and to you, young lady, "Keep 
thyself pure"; and to all who are farther down 



HELPS FOE YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 131 

the stream of life and hastening on to the bound- 
less ocean of eternity, ^'Keep thyself pure/' 
If you desire to comprehend something of the 
true meaning of purity, think of heaven: what 
purity is in heaven, so it is on earth ; what it is 
in the life of Christ, so it is in the life of man. 
Here upon the shores of time we look away, by 
an eye of faith, and behold the purity of heaven 
and its inhabitants. We behold the angels and 
the great white throne, upon which sits the King 
of glory; but who, of all mankind, will really 
be eye-witnesses of that fair scene ? The Lamb, 
who is the light over there, makes answer, 
"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall 
see God.'' 

From that golden throne of God and the 
Lamb, the ' ^ beloved disciple, ' ' from the land of 
visions, saw flowing a pure river of water of life, 
clear as crystal ; and he heard the Lord of heaven 
and earth saying, "I will give unto him that 
is athirst of the water of life freely''; and the 
Spirit and the bride repeat the invitation, say- 
ing, "Whosoever will, let him come and take of 
the water of life freely. ' ' But what is this pure 
river of water of life ? It is the wonderful river 
of God's saving grace, issuing forth from out 



132 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 

his throne and flowing throughout all his king- 
dom. The Son of God extended his Father's 
kingdom to this earth and set the glorious 
stream of salvation flowing here. This wonder- 
ful stream is just as pure and its waters just as 
sweet in their onward flowing here, as they are 
when they come sparkling forth from out the 
throne. If you will come and wash in this crys- 
tal stream ; if you will drink of its delicious wa- 
ters,— they will make you as pure as the throne 
from which they flow. If you will allow them 
to ripple over your soul, they will cleanse you 
and make you pure, so that purity in your heart 
will not be inferior to that purity which encir- 
cles the throne of God. Glory to his name! 

The Psalmist says, ''Purge me with hyssop, 
and I shall be clean : wash me, and I shall be 
whiter than snow." A¥liite is an emblem of 
purity. When John beheld the multitude of 
all nations standing before the throne and the 
Lamb, clothed in white robes, he asked whence 
they came. "These are they which came out 
of great tribulation, and have washed their 
robes, and made them white in the blood of the 
Lamb." Rev. 7:14. 

Purity of soul and heart and mind and coil- 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 133 

science and thonglit and life is an experience 
to be attained to and enjoyed in this life. Peter 
says, ^'Seeing ye have purified yonr souls in 
obeying the truth. ' ' 1 Pet. 1 : 22. Jesus says, 
'^Blessed are the pure in heart.'' Mat. 5:8. 
Paul says, '^I thank God, whom I serve from 
my forefathers with pure conscience." 2 Tim. 
1 : 3. Peter says, ' ' I stir up your pure minds. ' ' 
2 Pet. 3:1. Paul says, ^^ Whatsoever things 
are pure, . . . think on these things." See 
Phil. 4:8, 9. Christ is the standard of purity. 
"And every man that hath this hope in him 
purifieth himself, even as he is pure." 1 John 
3 : 3. Purity in all the affections, in all the de- 
sires, in all the motives, and in all the thoughts. 
The heart that is made pure in the light of God 
reveals nothing contrary to heaven. Nothing can 
be more noble and beautiful upon earth than a 
pure life. Oh, how many unclean and impure 
thoughts and desires are filling the minds and 
hearts of men and women in these awful iniqui- 
tous days ! Dear reader, ^ ' Keep thyself pure. ' ' 



134 FOOD FOE THE LAMBS; OR, 

MEANS FOR GROWTH. 



You have started out fairly upon the Chris- 
tian way. You have been "born again''; you 
have been immersed in water, or buried with 
Christ in baptism ; you have been baptized with 
the Holy Spirit and fire. With such an experi- 
ence you are admitted to the contest for the 
' ' crown of life. ' ' Now since you are thus started 
out upon the Christian way, it is a fact that you 
must "grow in grace." 

There are certain means for you to use that 
will promote growth. If you neglect these, you 
will not, you can not, grow. You must live 
much in prayer; you must read the Bible; you 
must attend meetings that are ordered of God; 
you must partake of the Lord's Supper as you 
have opportunity; you must wash the saints' 
feet. You will be blest with grace to your soul 
if you do these things as unto the Lord. You 
must give of your means to God's cause freely 
and cheerfully ; you must diligently follow every 
good work; and you will be neither barren nor 
unfruitful in the knowledge and grace of God. 



HELPS FOR YOUNG OHRISTIAKS. 135 

LAY HOLD ON ETERNAL LIFE. 



The "crown of life" lies at the end of the 
race. Some run well for a time, and then be- 
cause of slight hindrances turn from the way. 
You must endure unto the end. You must fol- 
low the example of the zealous apostle who said, 
"I reach forth to the things that are before," 
and, ''I press toward the mark for the prize." 
The prize was the crown of life. He bends 
forward in the race with all the energy of his 
soul. Down at the end of the race he beholds 
the crown. Sin, Satan, nor the world shall not 
hinder him in securing it. You must be just 
as much in earnest. You must strive, and that 
lawfully, lest some one take your crown. 

Some years ago a number of boatmen off the 
coast of New England raced for a prize in sin- 
gle boats. As they were nearing the end of the 
race it was discovered by the spectators that 
a special favorite was a half -boat's length 
ahead of all its competitors. His friends began 
to cheer him, and he, animated by their cheers, 
gave a responsive cheer, and, in doing so, lost 
a stroke of the oar ; a competitor seeing his op- 



136 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 

portunity bent to his oar witli all energy, shot 
past him and won the prize. 

The apostle Paul warns yon against youth- 
ful lusts, and tells you to flee from them ; to fol- 
low peace, righteousness, godliness ; to fight the 
good fight of faith; and to lay hold upon eter- 
nal life. 

We are in days when the love of many is 
waxing cold because iniquity abounds. You 
must keep the ardor of love glowing in your 
heart. Allow not the world nor aught else to 
extinguish the tender flame. Everything that 
has a tendency to suppress love, to cool its 
ardor, to dilute its sweetness in your soul, to 
lesson the yearnings of your heart for more of 
God, to deprive you of the sweet realization of 
constantly leaning on his breast,— consider all 
such things your bitter foes and rout them at 
any cost. 

Run lifers race with all the energy of your 
soul, never relaxing effort until the prize is in 
full possession. The dying testimony of the 
apostle Paul may be yours. When he had come 
down to the end of his journey he said as he 
stood, as it were, one foot upon time and the 
other in eternity, ^'The time of my departure 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 137 

is at hand." Then taking a last retrospective 
view of his life, he said, ' ' I have fought a good 
fight." Then taking a look at inward conditions, 
he said, ^*I am ready to be offered up." Then 
looking out into the future's prospect, he said, 
"Henceforth there is a crown of righteousness 
laid up for me." beloved young saints, run 
well your race. Keep your eyes upon the goal, 
fight the good fight of faith, be in earnest, live 
every moment for God, and you can have a 
dying testimony like the above. 



CRICIFIXION OF SELF. 



It requires no little courage, coupled with the 
grace of God, to go to Calvary. There are many 
Christians who will follow Jesus so long as it is 
''Hosanna to the King of David," who fail to 
follow him to Calvary. Most persons love the 
sweets of grace, and thus many follow the Lord 
for the loaves and fishes ; but when it comes to 
following him for his own sake, even unto judg- 
ment, where our earthliness is revealed, then too 
often we follow '^afar off." Many will serve 
for reward, who refuse to serve for righteous- 



138 FOOD FOE THE LAMBS; OR, 

ness' sake. Satan understood this in the case 
of Job ; so he said to the Lord, '^Doth Job serve 
God for naught r^ "Job endured even unto the 
end, and proved by actual test his devotion to 
God and not to His gifts. 

Saints are like soldiers— many there be who 
enlist, but few who fearlessly face death. All 
like life, though it be a life out of harmony with 
God. Satan said of Job, ^^All that a man hath 
will he give for his life.'' So Christians' last 
surrender is their own earthly life. They love 
the earthly, the dust; and to die to all that is 
not divine is a price that few will pay. 

Many talk of crucifixion, yea, claim to be cru- 
cified, who know hardly the first step away from 
self. To let self, the flesh, and all evil within 
perish ; to draw the last drop of earthliness from 
our veins,— is a price but few will pay for all 
the life of God. God through Moses gave to the 
children of Israel a heritage ; but never in their 
greatest conquest did they attain all of that her- 
itage. So with Christians : how few ever attain 
all of that God-life offered them through our 
Lord Jesus Christ. The Israelites made a 
league with certain of the inhabitants of the 
land whom they should have destroyed. How 



HELPS FOE YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 139 

many Christians spare those enemies within 
which should die. They may force the death of 
many, perhaps most of their earthliness; but 
somewhere there is that with which they will not 
part. Of course, the earthliness may not be 
manifest as before; ^'hewers of wood and draw- 
ers of water" they become, yet they are there 
and live there. '^I will be found of them when 
they seek me with their whole heart." Whole- 
hearted devotion to God is a rare quality, and 
only the fewest of the few ever attain it. 
An idol somewhere, a desire, a wish, a prefer- 
ence, a hope not born of God, but of man or of 
the flesh, is the separation line. Yea, to cease 
from our labors as God did from his, and thus 
reach true rest, is a haven but few ever reach. 

To literally cease, that Jehovah may be the 
beginning and the end, means blood, and thorns, 
and nails in the hands. Yes, it means Calvary 
and the tomb. This is too much for many who 
go part way with Jesus. How few realize that 
perhaps the most of our religious aspirations 
are born not of God, but of blood, or of the will 
of the flesh, or of man; and this is why our 
efforts are so barren, futile, and earthly. Yes, 
to hide away so that every act, every purpose, 



140 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS', OB, 

every hope, centers in God and points to liim 
and away from man— what a rare spiritual at- 
tainment ! Many who are said to be very spir- 
itual and leaders in the work of God, if robbed 
of this glory, would cease. To work for the 
eyes of God alone is not a sufficient reward for 
very many who have climbed well up the gospel 
ladder. To know when we are dead in the high- 
est light. Self-abnegation can not be discerned 
so long as we want to live. If we never reach 
the point where we literally *^hate our own 
life, ' ' we shall never know how much there is in 
us not divine. The flesh is ever the veil that sepa- 
rates between the holy place and the holy of 
holies. Until we have reached that place where 
we have lost sight of all that is human, and 
hunger and thirst for all the life of God, Chris- 
tian perfection is an impossible attainment. 

This little book has been written for your suc- 
cess in the divine life. We have hoped and 
prayed for your well being in the grace of God ; 
but unless you are dead to self our prayers are 
but in vain. Oh, the beauties and the blessings 
and the rich glories, and happiness and useful- 
ness for you in life, if you are fully possessed 
with life of God! Be dead indeed to self, and 
let God live in you to his praise. 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 141 

LOVE NOT THE WORLD. 



If you value your success in the Cliristian 
life, keep a wide gulf between you and this 
world. By the expression the luorld I mean its 
amusements, its revelry, its praise, its fashions, 
its society, its spirit. The present-day amuse- 
ments or entertainments offered by secret or- 
ders and sects and by others are very destruc- 
tive to spiritual life. Unless you are willing to 
walk alone with Jesus and let the blessedness 
of his companionship suffice for you, you had 
as well quit the race now. Mingle with worldly 
people, only to tell them of God's love. 

To love and enjoy the society of the world 
is to have a heart destitute of grace. Therefore 
keep away from the world. Beware of it. It 
is a bitter foe to grace. It is an enemy to God ; 
and if you befriend it, you make yourself an 
enemy to God. ^'Whosoever is a friend to the 
world is an enemy to God," so says the Bible. 
To be a friend to the world is to help it along 
in any sense— to encourage its spirit; to add to 
its pleasures, to its levity, its fashion, its fool- 
ishness ; or to abet it in any way. You go into 
the world, only for the purpose of saving people 
from the world, and thus you are the world's 
enemy ; and so you must continue to be, or miss 
heaven, 



142 FOOD FOE THE LAMBS; OR, 



HAVE A CARE. 



The world has many gaudy wings — 
Have a care! 

She flits among the flow'rs and sings- 
Many a snare. 
Beware 

Of the hidden poisonous stings. 

Earth's pleasures are a golden cup— 

Have a care! 
She bids you take one little sup— 

Many a snare. 

Beware 

Of the hidden sting in the cup. 

Earth's riches have a charm most rare- 
Have a care! 

She bids you seek a goodly share- 
Many a snare. 
Beware — 

She will sting with many a care. 

Vain worldly fame 's a painted flow 'r- 

Have a care! 
She dwells in an enchanted bow'r— 

Many a snare. 
Beware— 
She'll chide you in an evil hour. 



HELPS FOB YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 143 

The world is but an empty show — 
Have a care! 

Of true joys a dangerous foe- 
Many a snare. 
Beware— 

Her greatest gain's oft deepest woe. 



AFFINITIES. 



By the term affinity I mean that enamored 
feeling which arises in the hearts of those of 
opposite sex for each other. This Satan may 
take advantage of ; and in this awful snare many 
a soul has gone down into the darkness; many 
a heaven-born and happy soul has received its 
awful blight, and gone down to an eternity of 
woe. Some one may ask, ^ ' Is not marriage hon- 
orable! and does not God join hearts together 
in love?'' He certainly does; but when he does 
and all is kept in Grod's order the parties in 
love will not suffer any loss of spirituality. 
Courtship can be carried on in the will and or- 
der of God, and the parties engaged have a 
constant growth in grace. But so many times 
they become silly-headed and allow their love 
for each other to carry them out of God's order. 



144 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 

and consequently they will soon be graceless- 
hearted. 

Now I speak the truth when I say that by far 
the greater number of saints who fall- in love 
suffer spiritual loss. This need not be so. In 
the first place, the love for each other must be 
genuine ; but, though God is calling two togeth- 
er and the love which springs up is in the order 
of the Lord, this does not insure them against 
spiritual loss. If they are not watchful they will 
lose their heads, so to speak, and step away be- 
yond the bonds of propriety. 

There is many a young man and young woman 
united in marriage these days, even young 
saints, whom wisdom has not directed. Such 
may succeed in getting through and escaping the 
damnation of hell, but they will have trouble in 
the flesh. 

Now, dear young saint, if you desire to be 
successful in life and gain heaven, if you will 
keep your senses you can keep clear from all 
the meshes of unholy affinities. You desire to 
have a life companion if God selects you one. 
I can not blame you for this, neither does the 
Bible condemn you; but the utmost caution 
needs to be exercised. Be cg,reful your desire 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 145 

I'or companionship does not turn your head and 
render you incapable of knowing or understand- 
ing the wiJ I of God. Whenever you find yourself 
losing love for God, you had better beware. 
Whenever the object of your affection is getting 
^0 upon your heart and mind that you think less 
of God you are going beyond His ordering. If 
your last thouglits in tlie evening and your earli- 
est thoughts in the morning are of the loved one, 
you are being estranged from God and losing 
spiritual life. I feel like giving you warning 
and counsel you to move very cautiously and 
prayerfulh^ in these matters, lest you make a 
mistake and suffer a loss that neither time nor 
eternity will ever make up. 

Young saints must not keep company with the 
unsaved. Those who do, lose spirituality. If 
you love God and desire to live a spiritual life, 
wait on God and let him select your life com- 
panion. 



THE GUARDIAN ANGEL. 



When you entered the Christian race God 
gave an angel to guard and guide you in the 
way. You need have no fear of this world* 

10 " 



146 FOOD FOB THE LAMBS; OB, 

Live in God's service and do his will, and this 
guardian angel will keep you. ''The angel of 
the Lord eneampeth round about them that fear 
Him, and delivereth them." 

It was this angel that stood with Daniel in 
the den of lions and with the three Hebrew chil- 
dren in the fiery furnace. It was this angel that 
led the weeping Hagar to the well of water when 
her child was dying of thirst; and that led the 
righteous Lot out of the wicked city of Sodom 
and saved him from its awful burning. When 
Elijah was hunted for his life and sat down to 
weep and to starve under the juniper-tree, it 
was this guardian angel that brought him a 
cake and a cruse of water. It was this good an- 
gel that unbolted the prison doors and set Peter 
free. When Paul and Silas were lying fast in 
the stocks singing praise to God at midnight, it 
was the angel of the Lord that shook the earth 
and opened the prison doors. 

You once were lost, but the Son of man came 
to save you. Now you are saved ; you have en- 
tered his fold; you have become one of his 
' ' little ones. ' ' Once lost, but now saved. Jesus 
says to this cruel, mocking world, ' ' Take heed 
that ye cause not one of these little ones to stum- 




St^S^^S&L 



LIFE. 



HELPS i^OR YOUNG CHMSIMANS. 149 

ble; for their angels do always behold the face 
of their Father which is in heaven.". As you 
journey along the way of life, Christian reader, 
there is an angel of mercy guarding you by day 
and night. Naught in all the world can harm 
you. 'Their angels do always behold the face of 
God. ' By this we understand that your guardian 
angel has constant access into the presence of 
God to bear him an intelligence concerning his 
little one under his charge. Glory be to God! 
If you will but live holy and confide in God, 
he will guide you safely and triumphantly 
through this world and bring you in a ripe old 
age to an eternity of rest. Trust not in the 
world, trust not in man, trust not in yourself; 
but give up all; give up your life to God and 
trust in him. You are safe in his care ; nothing 
can harm you. You need not have a fear. What 
a blessed life to live ! how peaceful ! how secure ! 
how full of rest! And when the last hour has 
come those guardian angels will be gathered 
round waiting for your spirit to come forth from 
the tomb of clay, and they will waft it in rap- 
ture to the God who gave it. 



150, FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; Ott, 

FLEDGING THE WINGS. 



The inspired Word of God abounds in evi- 
dences of the twofold nature of man's being. 
Man, entire, consists of an outer physical being 
and an inner spiritual being. The one is for 
time, the other for eternity. The physical being 
is the transient home of the spiritual being, and 
is, therefore, called an earthly house. ''For we 
know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle 
were dissolved, we have a building of God, an 
house not made with hands, eternal in the heav- 
ens. ' ' 2 Cor. 5:1. When the earthly house in 
which the soul is tabernacled comes to dissolu- 
tion, we (the spiritual beings) pass to our eter- 
nal home, a building not made with hands, but 
builded by the Lord of heaven. 

The passport from the earthly house to the 
home in the heavens is spoken of by the Psalm- 
ist as a "flying away." "The days of our 
years are threescore years and ten; and if by 
reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet 
is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is 
soon cut off, and we fly away. ' ' Psa. 90 : 10. The 
physical being is cut down, or comes to disso- 
lution, and we (the souls) fly away, when re- 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 151 

deemed by the blood, to our eternal home of 
rest. 

Since it is spoken of as a flying away, the idea 
of wings is suggested, from which we derive 
our subject. The inspired apostle said, "Though 
our outward man perish, yet the inward man is 
renewed day by day. ' ' 2 Cor. 4 : 16. As the out- 
ward, physical man, day by day, becomes more 
feeble, the furrows on the brow grow deeper, 
the locks more silvery, the steps more tottering, 
the voice weaker and more husky, the cheeks 
more sunken, the ear more deaf, the eye more 
dim, and the heart-beats more slow ; the inward 
man is gathering strength, or fledging his wings, 
ready for his upward flight to his beautiful man- 
sion in the sky. Oh, how often the redeemed 
soul, full of life, love, and hope, looks out 
through the fading windows of the crumbling 
house of clay, to its fair home on the Elysian 
shores eternal, and longs to take its flight ! May 
you, dear reader, and I, as we travel along life 's 
swift journey, so live in prayer and devotion to 
God, w^lk in such purity, so feed upon the di- 
vine life, that we shall gather strength to our 
souls day by day and be ready for the hour of 
our departure. Amen. 



152 FOOD FOE THE LAMBS; OE, 



SOME TIME. 



Some time, when all life's lessons have been learned, 

And sun and stars forevermore have set, 
The things which our weak judgments here have 
spurned, 

The things o'er which we grieved with lashes wet, 
Will flash before us out of life's dark night. 

As stars shine most in deeper tints of blue; 
And we shall see how all God's plans are right. 

And how what seemed reproof was love most true. 

And we shall see how, while we frown and sigh, 

God's plans go on as best for you and me; 
How when we called, he heeded not our cry, 

Because his wisdom to the end could see. 
And e'en as prudent parents disallow 

Too much of sweet to craving babyhood ; 
So God, perhaps, is keeping from us now 

Life's sweetest things, because it seemeth good. 

And if, sometimes, commingled with life's wine, 

We find the wormwood, and rebel and shrink, 
Be sure a wiser hand than yours or mine 

Pours out the potion for our lips to drink; 
And if some friend we love is lying low. 

Where human kisses can not reach his face. 
Oh, do not blame the loving Father so. 

But wear your sorrows with obedient grace. 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 153 

And you shall shortly know that lengthened breath 

Is not the sweetest gift God sends his friend. 
And that, sometimes, the sable pall of death 

Conceals the fairest boon his love can send. 
If we could push ajar the gates of life, 

And stand within and all God's workings see, 
We could interpret all this doubt and strife, 

And for each mystery could find a key. 

But not to-day. Then be content, poor heart; 

God's plans like lilies pure and white unfold; 
AVe must not tear the close-shut leaves apart, 

Time will unfold the calyces of gold. 
And if, through patient toil, we reach the land 

Where tired feet, with sandals loosed, may rest, 
When we shall clearly know and understand, 

I think that we shall say, "God knew the best!" 



THE PRECIOUS OINTMENT. 



In the Bible we learn of a woman who took 
' ' a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, 
and anointed the feet of Jesus.'* This spike- 
nard was very rich in perfume. It was the 
very best gift she could bring to Him whom she 
loved. This is a very beautiful symbol of the 
life work of a Christian. We, as Christian, are 
a sweet odor unto God in Christ Jesus. Every- 



154 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 

thing you do for Jesus scents the air around the 
throne of God with a sweet fragrance. 

Every prayer your offer in the Spirit per- 
fumes the corridors of heaven. I read some- 
where of a little girl who told her mamma that 
God bade all the angels in heaven keep quiet 
when she prayed; then all the angels hushed 
their songs until she said amen. Amid all the 
songs and shouts and playing of harps in 
heaven God hears the prayers of his humble 
ones on earth. The odor of prayer from the 
hearts of God 's children on earth is as sweet to 
him as the songs of angels. The things the 
saints at Philippi sent to Paul were an odor of 
a sweet smell to God. Cornelius' alms-giving 
and prayers were kept in heaven as a memorial. 
So all your gifts and doings and prayers are a 
rich perfume, which God keeps bottled up in 
heaven as a memorial of you. 

Your whole life, dear young saint, in all of its 
giving and doing, its sacrifices and prayers, its 
humble service and devotion, is to be constantly 
sending forth a sweet smell to God. This is spo- 
ken of in a beautiful figure in S. of Sol. 1 : 12 : 
''While the king sitteth at his table, my spike- 
nard sendeth forth the smell thereof. '* The 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISOTIANS. i55 

king is Jesus, who sits at the table of our hearts ; 
the sweet spikenard is our Christian lives. In 
Rev. 3:20 Jesus says, ^*I will come in to him, 
and will sup with him, and he with me." The 
Christian's heart is the dining-room; there is a 
table spread with the graces of the Spirit, the 
fruits of -the garden of the Lord. There Christ 
and the Christian sit down to dine together. 
While the glory of the xjne lights up the room, 
the holy life of the other perfumes it. God, 
my soul doth magnify thee for the preciousnes3 
of these thoughts. 

When Christ was bom wise men came and 
presented him frankincense and myrrh, and in 
after-years Mary came and poured upon his 
head the precious ointment of spikenard. These 
things were literally done, and now when we 
bring our very best gifts, in the fulness of love, 
to the Lord, we are breaking the alabaster box 
of sweet ointment and pouring it upon his head. 
You owe Christ the very best of your life; yea, 
you owe him your life. He must have all the 
affections of your heart. Christ must have the 
very best of everything out of your life. Do 
not use the dollars for yourself and give him 
the pennies. Do not sip the honey from the 



156 



FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OE, 



flower and give him the leaves. Do not eat the 
fresh bread yourself and give him that which 
is stale. Do not give him the well-worn gar- 
ment and keep the best robe for yourself. 

But how can we now give to the Lord? *^As 
oft as ye do it unto the least of these ye do it 
unto me.'' As you go about your life work as 
a Christian always do what you do as to the 
Lord. When you pray in public talk to Jesus 
the same as if he were there in person, and not 
to be heard of men. When you give money to 
the needy do it as if you were giving it to Jesus 
himself, for such it really is. If Christ should 
come to your door and ask for a drink, how 
eagerly you would get it for him! You must 
remember that to give a cup of water to one 
of his little ones is the same as giving it to him. 
When you visit a sick-chamber and are invited 
to sing you should sing just as sweetly as if you 
were singing purposely for the Savior, and all 
your words should be spoken as tenderly as if 
you were talking to him. 

Jesus has given you the purest love of 
heaven; he has clothed you with the whitest 
robe ; he gives you the very best heaven affords ; 
and, beloved, will you not give him the very 




THE TREE OF LIFE. 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 159 

best life? Live with all your soul for Jesus; 
serve him every moment. Bring the best of 
your life, its love, its service, its perfume, and 
pour them upon the head and feet of Jesus. 



THE TREE OF LIFE. 



' ' The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, ' ' 
says Proverbs. How wonderful! how inspir- 
ing ! The fruit borne by a Christian is a savor 
of life to many. If you live a true Christian 
life all the way through, God will use the fruit 
you bear to bring another soul to life. Your 
Christian life will not be lived in vain. That 
"beloved disciple" said, "On either side of the 
river was there the tree of life, which bare twelve 
manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every 
month. ' ' Your life is compared to a river ; and 
if you travel along down its course in the ful- 
ness of God's grace, upon its banks will grow 
the tree of life, of which others may eat and 
live forever. Such thoughts are almost too won- 
derful for me ; they overwhelm my soul. 

Jesus said, "I am the bread of life," and, 
"He that eateth of this bread shall live for- 



160 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 

ever." This same Jesus has come into your 
life. You are dead, but Jesus lives. He lives 
in you. The fruit you bear will be eaten by 
others and be life to their souls. my young 
reader, will you not be watchful and prayerful 
and let God live in you and bring forth fruit 
to his own glory? Cultivate the Christian 
graces, and see to it that there is never a with- 
ered leaf on your life's tree, but be ever green 
and full of fruit, scattering a holy influence eve- 
rywhere. May your life stand out upon the 
shores of time heavy laden with the fruits of 
the Spirit, of which others may eat long after 
you are gone to your reward. You can make 
it so. Will you do it! As for me, from the ful- 
ness of my soul I answer, I will. 



ETERNITY. 



Did you ever attempt to look to the end of 
eternity! Have you endeavored to comprehend 
its duration!' Alas! it is something beyond the 
conception of the finite mind. Look into it as 
far as you can and no less of it lies beyond the 
end of your vision. Eternity is something nev- 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 161 

er begnn and sometliing that will never end. It 
is a circle which has no end of beginning and no 
end of closing. It goes on and on and on until 
millions upon millions of ages have passed 
away, and then on and on to other millions upon 
millions of ages, and then still on, being no less 
in duration than before. When you have been 
there ten million years you will be no nearer 
the end than when you first entered this bound- 
less duration. 

What a vast and awful thought! Eternity! 
I stand upon the shore of ocean and looking out 
upon the broad expanse I see nothing but ocean ; 
I see no other shore. I stand and look out upon 
the ocean of eternity, and see nothing but eter- 
nity. I can see out for millions and billions and 
trillions of years, and yet it is eternity. Where 
shall I spend it! My soul answers, ^^In heaven 
through the blood." 



NEARER TO THEE. 



Nearer to thee, my Savior, 

Nearer I would be each day. 
As I cross life's stormy ocean 
Never from tliee let me stray, 
11 



162 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 

Nearer, nearer, ever nearer, 
Is the language of my soul 

As I journey down life's pathway, 
As I near bright heaven's goal. 

Lead me through this world of sorrow. 
Let my hand in thine e'er be; 

Throw thy arms of love around me, 
Savior, let me walk with thee. 

When the storm-clouds round me gather 
In the clef ted Rock I hide ; 

When the surging billows threaten, 
Fold me closer to thy side. 

There's a home for me in heaven. 
By the crystal, silvered sea; 

Some sweet morn the golden portals 
Opened wide will be for me. 

There in amaranthine glory 

I will sit at Jesus' feet; 
There I'll sing the sweet old story 

As I walk the golden street. 

my heart, wait on in patience, 

Each day brings me nearer the goal; 

In some blissful dewy dawning 
Heaven will receive my soul. 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 163 

CONCLUSION. 



Our introduction is upon the subject of Life; 
our conclusion is upon Death. To many people 
the word death is full of horror. Thank Grod, 
it holds no horror to the pure in heart. Death 
has no sting for those whose souls are in fellow- 
ship with God. Those who love God hail with 
joy the hour in which they are to meet him. 
Death to a Christian is only his removal from 
earth to the paradise of God. If some man of 
wealth were to tell you he had a rich home pre- 
pared for you in a distant land, where you 
could have all your heart could wish, and be 
happy as long as you lived, if you had confi- 
dence in the man, you could say good-by and 
cheerfully go to your new home. Death is noth- 
ing more. 

Some may shudder at the thought of the' pain 
in death. How often we hear remarks like this : 
**This pain is almost like death,'' or, ^4t's like 
taking one's life." Have you not stood beside 
the infant's crib and watched it go peacefully to 
sleep? Where was the pain? Death to a Chris- 
tian is only a going to sleep. You have had far 
more pain in life than you will have in death. 



164 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS; OR, 

There may be pain just prior to death, but none 
in death. Death to a saint is as peaceful as 
going to sleep. 

Have you not often been in some solitary 
place and given yourself into the arms of Muse ? 
You have fallen to thinking about heaven and 
the angels and the Savior and your crown. You 
seemed as your soul was wafted upward on the 
wings of meditation, to lose consciousness of all 
on earth. Such will it be in death. Your soul 
will begin to see the glories of heaven ; you will 
hear the sweet strains of music; you will begin 
to lose consciousness of earthly things and com- 
prehend more of heaven. Then soon you will 
draw your last breath on the shore of time and 
sound your first note of praise on the shore of 
eternity. This is all there is in death. It is pre- 
cious to fond parents to see their little children, 
with folded hands, go peacefully to sleep. So to 
our Father in heaven is the death of his saints 
precious. 

In fancy I can see many of my young read- 
ers, after a well-spent life, gathered in ripe old 
age on the banks of old Time's river, waiting in 
bright hope to be summoned over to their rich 
possessions in the verdant fields of heaven, 



HELPS FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 165 

There is nothing more of death than this to a 
Christian. I pray that the life of many of you 
will end like this. I believe it will be so. Amen. 

A strange, sweet vision fills my soul, 

A glimpse of glory and of God; 
Am I not near life's final goal? 

My feet scarce touch this mortal sod. 

The zephyrs blow divinely sweet. 
With fragrance fill the balmy air; 

Are heav'n and earth about to meet? 
Who can this vision bright declare? 

I hear the notes of seraph song, 

The rustle of an angel's wing; 
Do signs like these to earth belong? 

Do men and angels meet to sing? 

Life's journey seems about complete; 

I con it well, yet know not why. 
My heart with longings is replete. 

And yet I do not long to die. 

A holy calm my bosom fills. 

And silence like the hush of morn; 

Such joy through all my being thrills 
As swept men 's hearts when Christ was bom. 



166 FOOD FOR THE LAMBS ; OE, 

Amid the crowds I look around 

To see who bear love's fragrant flower; 

I fain would walk on holy ground 
Made sacred by the Spirit's power. 

God has the keeping of my ways, 
His laws I rev'rence and obey; 

My prayers seem almost turned to praise, 
And yet I can not cease to pray. 

If this is death, I do not dread 

To lay me down in peace to die- 
To be with all the sainted dead, 
Far, far beyond the arching sky. 



CLOSING EXHORTATION. 



God has forgiven you all your sins; he has 
sanctified you wholly. You stand to-day in the 
way of life; you are fully out upon the Chris- 
tian way. You have on the whole armor of 
God. You possess the power of God's Spirit in 
your soul, the love of God is in your heart as a 
burning flame. You are tasting the sweet joys 
that flow from heaven's throne. In your soul 
is imprinted the image of Jesus. Your heart is 
a garden of opening buds, which emit the sweet 



ttELt»S FOK YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 167 

fragrance of heaven. But, notwithstanding all 
this blessedness of experience, I want you to 
remember you are just starting on the pilgrim's 
way. 

I thought of bringing this little work to a 
close with the preceding letter, but it seems that 
I am loath to say the last word. I wonder if 
there is one word more I can say to help you in 
your Christian race. It is impossible for me to 
express how my heart yearns in love and ten- 
derness for you. 

God wants to use your life on earth to his 
glory. He wants you so to shine in the glory 
and splendor of his grace that you may light 
others in the way. He wants the opening buds 
of grace in your soul to burst into full bloom. 
He wants to lead you higher up the mountain 
of joy, to the very fount of blessings. He wants 
to lead you down into the lowly vale where there 
are greater riches than gold. He wants his im- 
age in your heart to stand out in greater beauty 
and perfection ; the features are yet too dim. 

While in this life your immortal soul is 
wrapped about with a veil of mortality; but 
God wants to shine such a radiant light and 
amaranthine glory into your soul that the veil 



168 FOOD FOB THE LAMBS; OR, 

of mortality will not be able wholly to obscure 
it. It" will shine out through the material part 
and glow in transparent beauty upon the sur- 
face. 

If you will follow where he leads, he will 
lead you on from virtue to deeper, truer virtue ; 
he will lead you on to fountains of sweeter joy. 
It may be through the vale of sorrow; but never 
fear nor distrust, and you will find your joy 
rising higher in the cup. If you will follow, he 
will lead you from peace on to broader, deeper 
rivers of peace. It may be through angry bil- 
lows and past rough rocks ; but if you trust him 
and follow on, he will bring you to yet calmer 
and more peaceful waters. If you will stay in 
his presence, he will impart unto you his own 
lovely character, and you will grow up into a 
holier life, into sweeter fellowship with God, 
into richer beauty and greater usefulness. 

He will sometimes call you where the flowers 
are blooming and sweet fragrance fills the air, 
where the birds sing sweetly and the zephyrs 
blow gently; he will lead you along the rippling 
streams, and delight your soul with the music of 
the wave; he will lead you through the shady 
glens and leafy bowers,— until your soul will 



HELPS FOK YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 169 

sing, ^*Is not this the land of BenlahT' But he 
may sometimes lead you through the desert, or 
over the rugged mountain, or across the stormy 
seas ; he may lead you away from all that is dear 
to your heart ; he may lead you into paths where 
the shadows lie deep, and thorns spring up on 
every side. He will lead you on to duties that 
may oftentimes seem too hard for you to do ; but 
this one thing I assure you in Jesus' name: he 
will never call you to a duty or a sacrifice but 
that will prove a blessing to your soul and 
enrich you in his grace. You must follow on. 

To get the sweetness out of your life, he may 
sometimes bruise you. There are flowers that 
emit but little fragrance until they are bruised. 
Man^^ trials, no doubt, are awaiting you ; but do 
not live them until you get to them, then his 
grace will be sufficient for you. 

In closing, I beseech you from the fulness of 
my heart to follow Jesus all the way. Let noth- 
ing turn you back. Never mind the storms and 
cruel winds. What if the thorns prick your 
feet? they pierced his brow. What if the duties 
do seem hard and the way seems weary? Fol- 
low on, linger in his presence, breathe in of his 
fulness, live in humble submission, never mur- 



170 i^oOD FOR THE LAMBS. 

mur but in every sorrow draw the closer to him, 
never falter, labor on, and you will find joys in 
every sorrow, blessings in every sacrifice, and 

delights in every duty. He will perfume your 
life with the odor of heaven and make you a 
blessing on earth to man. He will make your 
life a well of water where many a weary traveler 
may drink and thirst no more; he will make it 
a tree of life where they may eat and hunger no 
more. And when life is done he will bring you 
with all your golden sheaves through the gates 
of glory into the haven of eternal rest, where I 
hope to meet you. With this, I will say fare- 
well. 




Beautiful Stories 

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No subjects unsuitable for children are 
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These true stories from the ''Good Old 
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The book contains nearly one hundred il- 
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GOSPEL TRUMPET COMPANY, 

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MOTHERS' COUNSEL TO THEIR SONS. 

BY JENNIE C. RUTTY. 

436 pages. Cloth $1.00 










In this book the author talks to the boys 
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PRIVATE LECTURES TO MOTHERS 

AND DAUGHTERS. 



BY D. O. TEASLEY. 



114 pages. Price, cloth (only) 



50c 



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Just issued. A book that should be placed 
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GOSPEL TRUMPET COMPANY, 

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To foreign countries 1.50 

Definite, Radical, and Anti-sectarian, sent 
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saints." It contains 

CHOICE POETRY AND ARTICLES 
of instruction in the Word of God on various 
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DIVINE HEAnNG DEPARTMENT 
on the eighth page consists of instructive arti- 
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The paper contains four pages, and is of in- 
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QOSPEL TRUMPET COMPANY, 

MOUNDSVILLE, WEvST VIRGINIA. 



DEC 16 I90« 



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